A demoness awakens
by Assija
Summary: Rachel/Al ... Rachel gets a visit from Pierce who triggered her inner demon, which ended up with a pissed off Rachel, an angry demon, a scared shitless witch and a lot of problems. Ch 54, Al shapeshifting, what will Rachel think?
1. When instincts take over

**A demoness awakens I**

**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. I like the books very much and the relationship between Algaliarept and Rachel is sounding so promissing that I couldn't withstand the temptation to write that fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".**  
**Pairings:** (slightly) Rachel / Pierce and Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Pierce  
**Summary: ** Rachel gets a visit from Pierce who triggered her inner demon, which ended up with a pissed off Rachel, an angry demon and a scared shitless witch. If Rachel thought her life couldn't get much more screwed up, she was obviously wrong.

_Please enjoy. _

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**A demoness awakens I: When instincts take over  
**

**- Rachel -**  
I awoke in darkness. Again I had slept through the whole day. What was wrong with me? Okay sure, the last week had been hell. The coven had tried to give me a lobotomy and all. But shouldn't I be accustomed to people attempting to kill me by now?  
Apparently I wasn't as used to it as I thought.

I showered and walked into the kitchen for a coffee. The church seemed still; Ivy must have been on a run, and maybe she took Jenks for backup.  
I sighed and opened the fridge for some leftovers, finally going for yesterday's chicken salad. I felt a shift of air pressure and turned around to see who would be so rude as to jump directly into my kitchen. I opened my mouth to give that person a piece of my mind.

And there he was, Pierce. He smiled at me and passed me a mug of coffee.  
"Good evening, mistress witch," he said, while I took the coffee from his hand and sniffed the delicious liquid in the cup.

"Hi Pierce." I felt myself smiling in return.  
"And stop calling me that. We 're far too intimate for that formal stuff by now." I sipped the coffee, his usual gift.  
"Ahhh, that's good." I closed my eyes in bliss.  
"How is the ever after?" Okay, my real question was, how was Al taking the news of Pierce and me being an item? I half expected the demon to act like his regular nasty self, and beat Pierce to pulp.

"So far, so good; he is absent right now." I raised my eyebrows.  
"What do you mean by absent? You didn't try to kill him again, did you?" My voice sounded displeased even to me. He shook his head.

"No, I didn't. He simply hasn't shown up at home, ever since that night, my lady," he said, drinking some of his coffee and eyeing me over my own cup. Our eyes met.  
"I can't help myself, but this doesn't sound good."  
"Why not? Rachel, he isn't going to kill me. He can't. Newt would take him apart"

"Great! And after she is done with Al, I would be next in line. I have enough problems as it is, I don't need a crazy demoness wrecking my parade."  
Pierce sighed and put his coffee down, sliding his arms around me and pulling me to his chest. He smelled of redwood, the characteristic witch scent.  
"I would fight Death himself to be with you. What's one or two demons for me?"

"So much for realism." I said dryly, not willing to extract myself from his arms.  
"Rachel, one body would think you don't believe me"  
"Oh yes I do, but I think you're overestimating yourself."

He laughed out loud and pressed his lips to mine.  
"I assure you I'm fully capable of protecting myself and you from any danger."  
He sounded so strong, so … well, so sure of himself. I wanted to believe it with every fibre of my being. But if I have learned one thing in my life, it was that false security was life threatening.  
So his certainty was making me feel anything but certain. He raised my chin, so I would look into his eyes.  
"Rachel trust me", he pleaded, laying feathery kisses on my cheeks.  
Even against better knowledge, I gave in to his charms. But it felt so good to forget the world for a few hours and simply enjoy myself.

He must have sensed my lust, because he was grinning that absolute male smile, that thing a man only does when he is very sure of the woman in front of him. My own smile mirrored his.  
"I assume we are without company, Rachel? What do you think about a little power-pull?"

"Ohhh, yes." I said, drawing his scent to me, opening my mind to the line and filling my chi.  
Simultaneous he was doing the same. We started slowly with a kiss. Then we traced each other's outlines while we let the line energy run through us.  
Heat pooled in my middle, and I hustled him to the island corner, as we kissed each other wildly.

He pulled away and looked me in the eyes.  
"Be warned, my lady, this is going to be more than a mere power-pull." That was my only warning before he traced his fingertips over my neck, sending trickles of line imbalance through me. I gave myself to the sensation and let the line merge with my aura, becoming one it. He peeked down at me and kissed me again.

"God Rachel you look incredible while communing with a line." His kisses were getting more and more determined. I wanted him.  
He was so fantastic, so experienced and smelled so good. I wanted him to take me right where I stood. Pierce touched my breast, and I moaned slightly.

The line gave a sudden pulse, which made me pause for a second. Then it felt normal again. Inwardly I shrugged and gave myself to the sensation again, simply feeling his fingers, his lips, his legs and muscled chest. He touched my face with one hand and my knee with the other. I knew what he was doing and gasped as he drew a line through me.

And there it was again, the strange pulsing.  
"Pierce, the line is pulsing." I said slowly and dizzily, slightly worried.  
"Everything is perfectly fine, Rachel." he responded.

He was the ley line witch of us, so he should know when something was going wrong; I trusted his judgement. Pierce lifted my shirt and dropped it to the floor, baring my bra covered breasts to the world. His tongue traced the boundary of my bra, which made the sensation even more intense. This time I screamed as the line raced through me with that strange pulsing. It was pain, but there was somewhat pleasure in it too. I leaned into him and raked his back with the sudden desire to inflict pain on him. He gasped slightly and grounded his hips against me. It wasn't enough. I wanted more, more of his body and more aggression.

_'Claim me!'_ whispered something inside of me, and this thought spread all over the line. It was answered by the next pulsing, which left me screaming cause to its intensity.  
An erotic growl escaped my throat; it seemed to run through him like a wave. Gripping my shoulders, he pushed me down on the island corner while his other hand wiped everything off the surface. It felt good, this bit of male domination. But those weren't exactly my thoughts, were they? Something was wrong. His fingernails teased my breast, pulling the fabric from my nipple, almost not touching it.

A flash of line through my body and mind again, leaving me writhing.  
_'Do it, do it NOW!'_ the strange presence in me purred via the line.

Pierce reacted to it instantly. He opened my jeans and pulled them down with more force than needed. I liked this very much; a good male he was, something that was worth my while. My fingers found his hair and used it to pull him down to me roughly. He groaned in pain, but he was following my lead. I began sniffing his neck like an animal, hunting for his scent, expecting it to make me even hotter for his touch, but somehow it did the exact opposite. It simply didn't feel right.

_'Wrong! He smells wrong! Move!'_ My mind hissed at him.  
My hand left his hair and with a sudden flash of line energy, he hit the wall on the other side of the kitchen.  
I sat there covering up my breasts, totally puzzled. What had just happened? I shivered from the line's pulsing, which was still coursing through me. At least I was a bit more myself now. 'What the hell was going on?'

_'Damn it, I want it. Give it to me. Give it to me now!'_ The strange voice screamed at me. Pierce slowly opened his eyes, staring at me like I had sprouted a second head.  
"Rachel?" He sounded unsure with his pained voice, which left me shaking again. Double damn. Why was his pain turning me on? Something was utterly wrong with me.  
"Your... eyes... they are black!"

_'Black eyes ... since when were my eyes black?'_ He must have seen the astonished look on my face, because he added: "Yes, like Ivy's or Newt's."  
The last name sent a cringe through me.  
"Don't say HER name." I hissed and jumped from the island corner, ready to walk over to him. But my jeans were in the way, so I had to put them on properly first.

"Stay where you are, Rachel." He warned me, while he got his feet under him, an stood almost instantly.  
That reaction puzzled me, and my steps faltered a bit.  
"I don't want you near me. You have been messing with my mind! It appears that you even stripped me off my free will. You never did that before. Rachel, why?" he accused me.

That managed to hurt my feelings, and with that a sudden painful pulse ran through me. A desire for revenge appeared in my thoughts.  
_'Teach him his place'_, the pulsing whispered to me, overwriting my worry with the next pulse of pain and lust.

"You have been messing with me too. All demon with the lines ... but only witch in smell. Which kin do you belong to, little liar?"  
I growled, but this time there was nothing erotic in it. My motions changed to seductive and liquid. Just like Ivy's when she lost it.  
_'Had I lost it? Definitely!'_

He retreated from me.  
"Stay there, I mean it!" He formed his fingers in awkward figures and I felt him reach for a line. My line!  
_'Damn she turned demon on me!'_ His voice echoed through my mind, tasting of his fear. Something in me screamed at this realization, but it was too unreal, too far away.  
"You are not going to order me around in my own house, witch!" I yelled at him as he finished his line spell.  
"Rachel don't make me do this," he pleaded, sounding lost.

"Know your place." A pulse ran through me, made me spread my fingers and a black ball of ever-after came to rest in my hand.  
_'Strange, I didn't even think of an invocation.'_  
His face looked utterly shocked at that, which made me grin in a very nasty way. I took a step in his direction and he threw his spell at me.  
The next pulse hurt badly, but my will was with it and my hand came forward. A sheet of ever-after expanded between Pierce's petty, useless spell and me.

"Holly mother of Mary. You're indeed one of them," he hissed and stepped backwards, onto the sacred ground of my church, not once showing me his back.  
_'Kill him. Make him suffer,'_ the pulse of the line spoke to me.

The protection-spell vanished instantly, and everything seemed to happen at once. The air-pressure shifted, which meant someone just jumped into my kitchen again, as uninvited as my first guest.  
I would deal with that later, after I was done here.  
_'I'll be damned before I let them treat me with this much rudeness.'_ My hand with the black charm raised itself.  
I threw the thing at Pierce, but sadly someone caught my arm in the middle of the movement, which made me miss my target.

The person holding my hand pulled me toward him.  
"Don't kill my familiar, Rachel." Somewhere in my mind I observed that this voice was known to me. But nevertheless, this uninvited intruder was going to pay for making my spell miss and his disrespect.  
"How dare you?" My voice dropped an octave and sounded pissed, carrying a promise of pain and death with it. I jerked my wrist out of his hold. He'd just hit number one on my to-finish-off-list.

He drew in a sudden breath as I fixed my eyes on him.  
"Damn my dame, I knew something was erroneous." Al's cultivated British accent sounded shocked, and before I was able to react he recapture my arm.

"Get your filthy hands off of me, demon!" I growled at him with a commanding voice full of rage.  
The line energy entered me unprepared. My knees almost gave way as a moan of desire crossed over my bared teeth.  
He turned me around in his grasp, so that his front was touching my back, jerking us to the island corner and smacking my head into the stony surface.

Pain exploded in my mind, turning me subdued under him. My nose started bleeding. A low grumble rose from my throat. I was going to kill Al and I wanted him to realize his mistake before I did so. No one had the right to hit me. No one!

Fingers slid through my red curls, and then he pulled my head up by the hank of hair he was holding.  
"What do we have here? You would better try to calm down, Rachel, or I'll hurt you more than necessary." He promised darkly.  
I reached for the line, preparing to use his body as a transfer medium. I would roast him good!

He sensed what I was doing and uneasiness spread through his thoughts.  
"Well, capital. She's lost it! Shit!" That sounded odd coming from the aristocratic demon.  
I felt the change of Al's tactics. His grip on my hair grew harder and he leaned into my back, his hip touching mine while his scent entered my system.  
_'Right! This is right. I want it. I want you. Do me!'_ the line pulsed again.  
I fought its command as best as I could and lost cause to Al's next words.

"You're safe with me Jariathjackjunisjumoke." He whispered my summoning name into my ear like it was an endearment. How was this possible? I never gave it to a demon, but having him speak my name like that sent a surge of red-hot passion through me. It made me moan loudly. The pain from my skull added to the mind-numbing sensation.  
_'Good Lord, what is happening to me?'_

He pressed his hips firmly against my butt, raised my upper body from the cold surface and leaned against me again. He sniffed my neck, and his tongue slipped over my skin, sending powerful bolts of longings to my groin.  
I scratched the stone surface under me, licked the blood from my nose off my lips and pushed my rear against his middle section.  
Shit, it never had felt that good, not so much that it was able to rob me of all self-control I possessed.  
"You smell so good, so ready for me." His hissing into my ear amplified my need for his touch even more.  
"Will you accompany me to my rooms, my dear Jariathjackjunisjumoke?" A hardening bump pressed against me as his voice turned husky.

My mind blanked for a second, the pulsing of the line grew stronger. In unison with it one word escaped my lips.  
"Yes!"

Al kept his hand in my hair while the other removed my bra, kneading my breast carefully. What a difference to his earlier treatment, but one that made me feel like liquid fire.  
_'God, take me!'_ The words sounded like my voice, but if I had been in my right mind, I would have never sought his touch.  
Hot fingers started to play with my nipples, while he sent new line energy into my body. I swear if he hadn't been holding me upright, I would have fallen to the floor.

Totally at peace in his arms, I watched Al's eyes shift to the shocked witch on hallowed ground.  
"Gordian Nathaniel Pierce, I have a task for you. Do not fail me in this one, or I will give you to her when she finds out that her condition is your fault." He growled, which made me rub my bottom against his bulge in submission.  
I wanted nothing more right now than that damn male to hurry up. A low hiss escaped his lips, affirming that my actions were wearing his self-control thin. My lips formed a grin of success.  
"Go and find some contraception device, spell or whatever you can find. Make sure it's functional and bring it to my bedroom before I lose my will to fight her allurement."  
Pierce just blinked at him, like his brain refused to work correctly.

"Do you understand my order?" His voice dropped an octave, sounding so much more dangerous than before. It made me press harder against him. I didn't want him angry with me, and I clearly didn't want him this damn distracted.

My eyes opened and my gaze found the witch's stare. He seemed to wake up from some sort of spell, his face pale like snow. I snarled at him, he just nodded and jumped out off my kitchen.  
Line energy warped around my soul, and took me with Al through the lines to a room I had never seen before.

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Hi all Rachel Morgan fans. Hope you enjoy that fiction. And that it isn't to much OOC.  
It's about Rachel and Al, even if there is a bit of Pierce in it. I don't particular like that chara, but it was the only way to trigger the problem in a plausible way, since Al and Rachel hitting the sheets seems a bit of unreal from the storyline of "Black Magic Sanction"  
(Even if it sounds more likely with each book, God I'm longing for a scene with them ^^)

Thanks for helping me with my english Shimaira.


	2. Loss of controll

**A demoness awakens II**

**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
_This is part two of my fic_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".**  
**Pairings:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Pierce  
**Summary**: Al takes Rachel to his bedroom in the ever after to diminish her longings and bring her back to her normal self. Which of cause is not as easy a task as he thought it would be. We are talking about Rachel here. And she attracts trouble like nothing else, and Al as always is in for the ride.

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens II : _Loss of controll_**

One wall was utterly black, the opposite one had a huge window in it, with a landscape which couldn't have been in the ever after since it showed a forest with a fresh stream, and nothing had the typical red color of the ever after. The other two walls where also done in black but filled with strange magic symbols in silver. The floor was covered with white thick carpet and in the middle of the room stood a round, king-size bed with red sheets on it. Four pillars were holding a reddish mirror above it, also forming a circle. Two large closets stood in front of the black wall. All furniture and even the mirror were ornate with gold. Al waved with his hand and eight torchs, two on each wall blazed to life.  
"Welcome to my bedroom," he said in a deep voice, pushing me in direction of the bed.  
"Get your nice little ass on the bed, right about NOW!" Al growled.

I was hardly able to stand, let alone walk. A tremor ran through me and made me drop to my knees. Why was he having such an effect on me?  
"Can't," I justified myself. A sigh echoed from him and two seconds later he had me in his arms, carrying me to his bed. My head rested on his chest and my fingers circled his neck. Why was that damn chest still annoying clothed. My second arm found the other side of his shirt and with a sudden impuls of strenght, I ripped it open Al drew in a deep breath and staggered a bit, his red goat-slitted eyes focusing on mine while I licked a line from the middle of his torso to his right shoulder. He cringed and his smell of burnt amber amplified, making me a bit dizzy.  
"Who would have thought that my little ichy-witchy would be of the impatient typ." My teeth connected with the right side of his neck, slowly and lightly nibbling.

Al groaned mutely and withdraw his arms. With a very female shriek, I landed on the silky surface of his bed. My eyes refocused on his figure. What was he waiting for? I grumbled weakly and let my hands drift to my breast, cupping them, playing with them, while I whithed under his gaze. The line pulsed through me and wispered.  
'Take me, make me scream, what are you waiting for?'  
I felt the weakening of his will, and licked my lips in anticipation.  
"Damn, get out of those jeans!", he snarled erotically, and let his ruined shirt fall to the floor, baring his muscular front to me. My hand wandered leisurely toward my bottons, slowly opening the first, while my eyes pierced his. I was teasing him since it wasn't my job to get me out of my clothes, but obviously his. Al was faster than me, almost hasty, because he was fully out of his trousers before my last botton was open.

Al's legs were muscular too, but not too much or too little, simply just right. His erection pointed at me, which get me off my back and siting in front of him. My nails rasped over his chest, the nipples and slowly to his groin, leaving red marks behind while I licked my lips. The demon moaned softly, emitting surges of desire through my flesh.  
'Take me, hard and good!' The line vibrated with those words.  
His will lessen again, and he growled at me, sending shivers through me. His hands gripped mine, pushed me down on the bed, holding me passiv with all his force, which left me whimpering.  
He put my arms over my head and fixed them with one of his, the other grasped my jeans and underware and with a sudden motion, the rest of my coverage vanished. My breath was hectic and I got more of his scent into me, making me limp under him.  
Al's breath swept over my breast, wandering to my face, his eyes were dilated, almost entirly black.  
"God Rachel you don't know what you're doing." His lips sank to mine and kissed me. Liquid fire floated through me, my will united with the line. I sent an impulse into the demon above me. A sweet scream of longing and pain left his throat. He pushed harder, his fingers wandering over my body, slowly in direction of my legs.

A shift of air pressure hit my senses the moment his fingers touched my clit. I moaned loud, almost screamed. I wanted more, so much more. Colors were dancing in front of my closed eyes. The male stoped, making me growl at him in frustration. Both of us were trembering.  
"What is it?", my demon asked, and the emphasis made it clear, that he wasn't talking to me.  
"Your ordered amulet, master", the intruder said, a voice which sounded familiar to me, and the last was pronounced very ironically. I wanted to kill him for interrupting, but Al had other plans so he rubed my clit, which left me clutching the sheets, writhing for him.  
"I'm of a mind to tell you, Algaliarept, that you will regret these actions", Pierce menaced darkly. He was about to say more, but in a blink of an eye, Al was gone. A loud smack echoed from the walls, followed by a bang and a pain hushed groan.

I was able to open my eyes again, and my reflection in the mirror was the first think I saw. Indeed my eyes were black as the nightsky without stars. My red curls lay around me, merging with Al's bed sheets. I couldn't help myself but I looked wild, untamed, dangerous.  
I wonder what Ivy would say to my current appearance, if she would feel the same tenuous allurement to me what I felt toward her.  
I sensed my demon drawing on the line, the same that I was fusing with, and a scream ran through the nice room. It costed me a bit of will power to get on my elbows and look for the screaming sound.  
Something bounced off the wall and was now motionless on the floor. It appeared humanoid. What a fine male, I tought, he protected me as he was suppose to. Dangerous, menancing, and oh so luscious.  
I sat on the pillows and watched him take position for the killing blow. Suddenly my mind made sense of the bundle on the floor. It was Pierce, his familiar, my current boyfriend, and he didn't look any good.  
"Don't", I said before the demon could descented on him. Al's eyes switched to mine, inquiring. This was something he cleary hadn't expected.  
"Why, do you want me to spare his life, my mate?", he asked, the last word of his sentence sent a shiver of enlightment and worry through me. But it didn't break the line's pulsing spell that still entrapped me.  
"Get him out of here. Ignore him but don't kill him," I ordered, my words stronger than I felt.  
"And then come back to me. We aren't finished here." Seduction colored my words, reaching for him with one arme while the other caressed the silk spread out underneath me.

The demon grinned at me and licked his lips.  
"As you wish my demoness." He jumped out of the room with Pierce. I trusted that he would not kill the witch. He wouldn't dare to violate my orders.  
Seconds ticked by, then he reentered his bedroom. My hand was between my legs, teasing my middle so he would see when he returned. A loud intake of air made me open my eyes to see my demon creeping over my body toward me.  
"By the two worlds colliding, how am I suppose to withstand this view ...", he nipped at my breasts, harden islands, which brought something between a moan and a whimper from me.  
"... this sound?" He travled upward for my neck and left thin traces of saliva on it.  
"... this taste?" The tip of his nose moved over my collarbone  
"... this smell?" His fingers wandered like feathers over my body, leaving tickles of lineimbalance behind.  
"You are like a forbidden candy, Rachel," he said.  
I clutched the sheets, moaning loudly, while his fingers found my slit.  
" Do you know how wet you are my little demon-witch?" He asked softly, making me growl at him.  
"Hurry", I said in unison with the pulsing line.  
"All mine now", he whispered, achieving a firmer hold on his will again even as mine dwindled. Al's lips kissed down to my navel, my fingers slideing into his hair while I raised my hips, urging him to do more.  
His tongue ran over my pubis and futher, and I screamed as he simultaneous reached my clit and sent the line through me. He licked my wetness off my thighs, grabbed the already invoked amulet and pulled it over my head so it would touch skin.

A little quiver ran through me as the magic activated, but the strange sensation was dulled by the line's pulsing. His fingers circled the amulet, and wandered lower.  
The preception was driving me insane. I wanted him to fuck me, hard and good, fast and soggy, and right now. He on the other hand just touched me like a feather.  
A growl slide my throat, and my arms found his back.  
"I never thought I would see you in this state so soon. But with thas little runt of yours, I should have expected", he whispered against my skin.  
I merged more with the line, let its force become mine. If he wasn't going to give me what I needed freely, I would damn well take it myself. My will amplified by the line, searched for his, finding it somewhere inside of him. Like a sphere of golden, shining light, I clouded my own golden aura around it. He sensed what I was doing.  
"No!", Al screamed and tried to withdraw from me, but my fingernails dug into his skin. He panted in delight, my scent reducing his will to flee. Blood driped down my arm and smelled of burnt amber and him. For the first time he was more than the typical demon scent to me. And he would be mine. I sent a surge of line through him, right to his core, turning him defenseless over me.

"Rachel don't", he whimpered, caught between desire and anxiety.  
"Algaliarept, I command you to take me. NOW!" My voice sounded absolutly alien.  
I felt him try to elude my words, but I had him. With one go his aura matched the lines, his eyes seemed to glow with blackness. He bared his teeth at me, spread my legs and shifted his position.  
"You will regret this," he said, and his voice sounded alien as well. Then something big pushed at my entrance. And without reluctance he entered me, a loud scream erupted from my throat.  
"Yes, scream for me!" He said and moved back and forth.

Al formed waves with his part of the line and sent my soul singin. Damn that felt so good. I raked his back, drawing more blood from his body. My tongue wandert to my arm, where his blood was dripping down, and licked it's salty sweetness from my skin. Hot lava pooled inside of me. It reminded me of the one time as I drank Kisten's blood, but this taste was even stronger than his. I wanted more of it. I stared at Al's eyes and licked my lips. Desire vibrated within me.  
"Want my blood, mistress?" He mocked and licked my neck. His dick touched my G-spot and left me screaming while the line ran through me. A sensation beyond all good and evil. I growled at him, having lost my ability to form words.  
"Well. Take it if you can," he growled, again he was striking my point. I swiped more skin from him while I lifted my head o bring me to his troat.  
Line energie made me sink fangs in his neck. Since when have I had fangs? But the question wasn't important, and departed from my mind as quickly as it formed.

His hand found my back and held me gently upright while he continued fucking me wildly. His wild thrusting paired nice with the firm but soft touch, it was a very breathtaking contrast. Al's blood was my undoing, but as he sank his own teeth inside my vampire mark, white hot passion exploded inside my mind. The line gave a tickle before it seemed to implode inside my head. I screamed and it echoed through all the lines I could feel. It was like touching Bis but completely unfiltered this time. It seemed only a moment but also an eternity, until the sensory overload sent my into white hot oblivion.

* * *

So here is the sequel for the Rachel / Al fiction.  
I like to write demoninstincts, it's always fun.  
Both of them falling prey to there instincts.  
Wait for the next part, where they have to deal with the aftermath ^^ .

Any mistakes please comment or PM so I can correct them. English is not my first language.  
Thanks for your great help with the language ThoughtCriminal and eltigre221.


	3. Unbidden truths

**A demoness awakens III**

**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
_This is part three of my fic_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".  
Pairings:** Rachel / Al**  
Charas: **Rachel / Al**  
Summary:** Rachel awakens in a bed which is not hers. She founds out about her bedpartner and freaks. Al tries to reason with her, but isn't going to have much luck on this one. There will be some screaming and blaming. And some revelation about the strange changes of behaviour and appearance of Rachel.

_Please enjoy_

_

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_

**A demoness awakens III : _Unbidden truths_**

I didn't knew what exactly it was, but something was off. My head felt like I had been run over by a truck, and at the same time, it felt numb. Was I drunken yesterday?  
I couldn't remember a damn thing. And I hated it. My fingers were stroking the silky surface under them. silk? My bed sheets weren't made of silk! I couldn't afford it.  
Was I out on the streets, dead drunk last night, and slept over at some guy's?  
'Damn Rachel, are you turning into a slut for real?' I asked myself. Cause one scene naked on over-regional TV does not necessarily make you one. I mumbled slightly.

Slowly coming to my senses I, turned the other way. A smell pinched my nose.  
'Burnt amber... this is burnt amber? Where am I?' It still wasn't making sense.  
But it sent a surge of adrenalin through my system, and I was fully awake in an instant. Sitting up in one go made my head spin.  
I let my sight shift over the room.  
Black walls with silver magic script, golden ornaments, a window showing a lake in the middle of the day. Red sheets and the scent of burnt amber, much stronger than the hint I'd gotten before.  
'Okay don't panic, just make sure everything is okay and intact,' I tried to calm myself down, with almost no succeed. Because now it occurred to me that I was naked. I lifted the sheet and looked at my bare skin. And the amulet right infront of my eyes. The bed shifted and drew my eyes to its other occupant.

Ok the question of what I had been doing last night was off the book, but the issue about whom I'd slept with not. And I got a very, very bad feeling about the answer to that one. I grabbed the sheet coveringr the person beside my and gave it a sudden tug, exposing the body next to me.  
Chestnut hair fell over his face, a nice muscled man. It didn't make sense for another two seconds. My brain just refused to draw the right conclusions about who I was in bed with.  
His eyes opened, red coat-slitted ones. A demon! My lagging brain finally gave the information about his identity away.  
"AL!" I was out of the bed in an instant, my back hit the window. How I'd managed to take the sheets with me to cover my nudity was beyond me.

"Damn it all back to the turn, what are you doing in my bed?"  
"You are missing a very important fact here, itchy witchy. This is my bedroom and I could ask the same of you. But I don't think I need a reminder, from you, since I will treasure very moment." He grinned at me. I had been sleeping with Al. Al-the-demon. Al-the-slave-trader. Al-punching-his-familiars-to-plum.

I couldn't believe this, wouldn't believe this! My head started spinning.  
"You're really not very courteous, are you? Normally we'd start the day with a nice 'Good morning', my love." He said in his proper english accent like nothing had happened.  
My knees gave way, leaning against his window, I dropped to the floor, crying, utterly shocked. My emotions were running amok. Anger, fear, disgust, shame, soiled, all mixed with disbelief. It couldn't be, mustn't be.  
His movements on the bed sent my eyes to him.  
"It's not true!" I said with force behind each word, like it could change reality.  
"What do you remember, Rachel?" He asked, hiding his morning erection with a pillow. That action left my face burning because it sent a strange feeling through me. I shook my head, clearing it.

"You disgusting bastard, you cursed me! Made me do it. You raped me!" I accused the demon. I wanted to throw something at him, but unless I was willing to stand naked in front of him, I had nothing to throw.  
"Cursing you to rape you? Don't be ridiculous! Here, take a look at the mirror and tell me what you see." He flung something at me. It landed in my lap, and I touched it with so much caution one would think it was a bomb. I scowled at him, thinking for a few seconds to chuck the think back at him.  
'Take a look,' his voice echoed through me, and I did it without thinking twice.

My reflection hit me. I was crying, but I didn't need a mirror for this information. My red mane was as disorderly as always. And then the next shock ran me over like a truck.  
Green coat-slitted eyes sat in the face of my reflection.  
I screamed and bashed the mirror against the wall, creeping away from the broken glass.  
"NOOO!" I wailed aloud, hugging my utterly disgusting self, overwhelmed with fear.

'This can't be, it's not true. I'm dreaming!' I fought the urge to have a nervous breakdown and failed. I was a demon. A demon for real. Like them. And to top that of, I had slept with Al. Could life get any worse?  
Please don't answer that! This was a nightmare, an absolutly nightmare. Tears overwhelmed my eyes, but I didn't care anymore. It was all over. My live was over.  
I sensed Al getting to his feet, him reaching for a line and his body covered in a green velvet robe. Than he moved in my direction.  
"Don't come near me, go away!" I whimpered. I wanted to be left alone.  
"No," the demon answered me.  
"You will listen to me now because what I will tell you now is important", he demanded, and something in me was listening.  
He came to a halt right in front of me and got to his knees so we were of an equal height.

"First things first, it was not rape from my side, but I know it wasn't entirely of you free choosing either", he said softly, and I was about to give him something nasty in return, but he beat me to it.  
"Your instincts as a female got the best of you, as you were going to sleep with Pierce again"  
"What has my sleeping with him to do with this," I gestured at the whole room and, yes, I managed to sound angry. If I was able to get angry things were getting better.  
"He is good with the lines. Why do you think Newt wanted him to babysit you?"  
I had the suspicion that his question was rhetorical, so I kept quiet.  
"Because he is the best thing in line magic after a demon," he explained.  
"So?" I hissed: I damn well hated the fact that the demons thought I was in need of a babysitter. Even if they were probably right. Al sighed.  
"He is almost as good with the lines as a real demon, and sex is no exception"  
"I don't get you, Al." Ok, so I was definitively pissed.

"Well Rachel, you know about the witches and their ovulation cycles, don't you?", he asked. His stalling was pissing me off bigtime. But it gave me something to brood about bysides my green goat-slitted eyes and the fact that Al was on my list of men now.  
"How could it be overwise? I used to be one, remember," I replied wryly.  
"Stop beating around the bush! Go ahead and make your damn point." I growled at him and went silent a moment later as I realized the strange sound was coming from my throat. What was up with that animal noises?

"Demon females have something similar to witches. If they get hold on a partner with the right ley line skills, they trigger the ovulation cycle and fall into heat. During this time, the female is attracted to every demon, and every demon is attracted to her. They will try to mate with each other. The male has to prove his claim. If he is too weak or not to the demoness's liking, she kills him."  
I stared at him. He was speaking clearly but his words weren't making sense at all. He must have seen my confusion because he added, "You sleeping with Pierce activated your demon reproduction circle and threw you into heat. As you was trying to mate with him, he somehow failed your standards, so you almost ended up killing him. Not that it would anger me if you free me of the runts presents, but letting an untrained female kill my familiar would prove to Newt that I am really not up to my task"  
His face was decorated with a smirk.

"So you blame me for all of this?" I screamed and was about to hurl myself at him. He took both my hands and held them still.  
"No, not really, Rachel. Yes I blame you for sleeping with Pierce. That was outright stupid, but the rest was just the will of nature." He grined again.  
"This is not funny, you know", I snarled at him.

"I know", his voice seemed serene to me, and his scent calmed something within me. That of course made somethink else inside of me panic. I tried to evade his touch.  
"Let go of me!" I wailed, feeling the warmth of his fingers on my skin, which made me remember yesterday. Instinctively I taped a line and was about to throw him against his bedroom walls, but his hand left my wrist before the energy could find him.  
"Why did you... fuck me!" I was on my feed, ready for battle. That my psyche was switching moods like other people switched the light on and off worried me.

"Would you rather be taken by another demon? One without the caution to prevent your pregnancy? This is what would have happened"  
"No it wouldn't!", I was really angry.  
"Yes, it would. I know more about how a demon's body works than you! Believe me, you would have screwed anything what came your way. Unless you killed it first."  
I crossed my arms and refused to believe him.  
"A demon's heat is not like a cat's, or a human's, it never goes away without proper care. In this case, sex with a male!" he said.  
His patience was wearing thin, and I don't know why I knew that, but I did.  
"So now you're telling me that you were just helping out?" I screamed, my voice sounded pretty hysterical, and my alien eyes were spilling tears again.  
"So to speak, yes I was. But you not only took my body and my seed, like you were supposed to, but you took me as a whole. You bond me. And this you should know; you bond me against my will!"  
"You... are telling me, I raped you?" It was absolutly fucking unbelieveble, the demon made it sound like it was entirely my fault.  
His red eyes seemed to glow. I tried to withdraw into the wall, as he took a step toward me.. The demon radiated wrath.

Damn I was in deep shit, even for my pretty high standards.  
"Al?" I asked. I hated the situation and sounding silly didn't make me feel any better.  
His eyes started to glow even more, and in their infernal depths was the intent to rip me apart. Without knowing, I made a whimpering noise, but I got my shit together before he could touch me.  
Anger shifted through my thoughts, and I played brave again. Brave or stupid, but I would not back down, and let that demon threaten my like an underling or slave.  
"What do you mean by BOND!" I sounded strong and demanding with my own edge of danger edging each word. Energy seemed to float in my eyes and maybe they were glowing like Al's.  
"So you pretend not to know about it?" he growled, hovering above me.

"I'm not pretending, you stupid asshole! I don't know about this goddamn lame ass bonding shit you're talking about. And I didn't know anything about this demon heat business either. And if big bad demon Algaliarept would have taken his fucking assignment as my teacher seriously, we wouldn't be in this crappy situation!"  
I was screaming at him, and without restraint, I poked his chest, trying to make him back up while I filled my chi with the force of his ley line. Readying myself for battle. It worried me that drawing on a line to threaten people was about to become my second nature.  
"So mister almighty omniscient tutor, don't you dare to blame me for my lack of information! Because ... this ... is ... all ... your ... fault!" I poked his chest at every word of the last sentence while I felt energy emiting from me. I let it float around me and somehow I got the feeling that this was how vampires draw an aura.  
He was about to hit me, but something shifted inside of him, and with a sigh, he capitulated and turned his back on me.

"By the two worlds colliding, I thought handling you as a witch was difficult. Well reality likes to prove me wrong," he sighed again and sat down on the bed. His sudden change in moods made me blink fast and it cost me quite some effort of will to get a hold on my temper.  
"Bond means bond. It's like a familiar bond, but stronger. You hold a piece of my soul, and I hold a part of yours in return. On your side of the lines it would be called a marriage."  
Oh my fucking God, what have I done to myself?  
"Cut it!" I demanded. Damn it all back to the turn, I couldn't be married to that awful demon and even less if he gets a hold of my soul. I had no desire for Al's soul, I wished to never be touched by it. But Al just shook his head.  
"It's not done. Rachel, you, or maybe more appropriately phrased, your instincts, have chosen me as your mate. Even if we both don't like it, we can't change it anymore"  
"Bullshit, there is always a way," I presisted.

He shook his head again, looking sad for the time being.  
"No there isn't, unless you are willing to die for it. Because I'm clearly not willing to go that far. Yes, you're a major pain in the butt, and it will cost me every existing nerve I have to deal with you. But I will survive it!" Al said and looked me straight in the eyes, putting too much force to his last sentence.  
"Pain in the ass, uh... and what exactly do you think you are?" I was starting to get angry again.  
"Rachel, I would like you to get a hold on your temper, since you're now considered a full grown demon. Besides, these mood changes of yours are messing with my own ability to behave like an adult," he explained but it wasn't smoothing my mood.

"Oh well, little poor Algaliarept, I'm so soooorrryy," I said with sarcasm dripping from each word while he growled at me. I ignored the fact that he was picking up my vibes.  
"Did it slip your mind, what's been happening to me in these last few hours? Well, let me remind you. I got a visit from Pierce, whom I almost killed because of some stupid twist of nature. Then you appeared to save him, and you nailed me to the corner. And after that, you took me to your bedroom to fuck my brains out. I awoke in the ever after with my demon teacher beside me. Naked to top that off. My eyes looked like yours, if you leave out the fact that mine are green. You speak about me choosing you as my husband or mate or whatever the fuck you wanna call it. And now you are telling me that I don't have a right to be upset!" I was laughing hysterically, and tears flowed down my cheeks.  
"Go and turn yourself. God Al, I don't know where to start dealing with one oft those facts, let alone all at once. I don't even know why my fucking eyes are coat-slitted", I wiped my tears away. Which devil was riding me to make me cry in front of Al?

"Rachel, calm down. I can figure that this is hard on you. Just sit down and breathe for a few minutes. I will try to explain, even if I'm out of my depths as well." he said.  
I tried to dodge his touch, but he was faster, and I found myself in his arms on the bed.  
The sheets held our mingling scents. I fought Al but something about this smell made my wind down. He stroked my hair and for a few seconds everything was good and whole.  
But somethere inside my mind, I refused to let this peace take me in.

"NO!" I screamed and started fighting him again. Stupid of me. Not a second later I was under him and he held my down. Something about this position was erotic. I instinctively shifted my position a few inches, while I growled at Al.  
"Damn Rachel, relax. If you let more of your instincts take over, we're a bound to have a second round. And as much as we would enjoy it, I don't think that's what either of us needs right now"  
"What's up with us?" I asked and hated the weakness in my voice. Al let go of my wrists and sat down more than four feed away. I sensed something beside his seductive smell.  
'Since when is his smell affecting my like that?' I questioned myself and tried to ignore it. But it was almost like Ivy's vampire fragrancy. Only the adrenalin was missin, sadly.

"Because redolency is important to many inderlanders, like weres, witches, vampires and of course us, demons. It's a method to identify a potential mate. Since you found me and we are already bonded, your reaction to my scent is much stronger than to another demon's." His answer shocked me.  
"Wait a moment... I never said that out loud!" Was that stupid demon reading my very thoughts?  
"No you didn't, but you sent the query to me, together with your furstration, angst and confusion. Which brings me to the question, what you can read in me?" He drew a deep breath. I shook my head.  
"Nothing." It was a little too fast. I was lying, I knew it and so did Al. I sensed him getting more determined  
"Lying to yourself is not going to make this situation any better. Tell my what you get from me." he demanded with a bit of irritation in his voice.  
"You're on the edge," I made a smartass comment.

"Don't interpret my voice, you idiot excuse for a student!" He jumped me and we both fell to the floor. It hurts, well at least it hurts me, because I was under him.  
It was also kind of a shock. Al always was some kind of moody, but this was way too fast even for him. Or I was getting under his skin far more than he would admit. I sensed irritation, anger and helplessness on his mind and or eyes touched.  
"Tell me!" he demanded, his scent was getting to me, even in this goddamn situation, calming me, making me think about other places for his hot hands to be. He hissed in frustration and was on his feet again. Not in contact with his skin anymore, my need weakened.

"Damn, you have no self controll at all. I can't even touch you without your desires taking over. You can thank every God in existince, that I once had a mate and know how to control myself." That pissed me off. So it was all my fault again? It was so typically male. I snarled back and got my feet under me. Then a thought slammed my right in the guts. Al had had a woman once, a mate, a rival. Somewhere inside of me jealousy and betrayal blossomed.  
His slitted eyes glared at me. Clearly he was able to sense my feelings..  
Someone must be influrencing my emotions big time, because it was absolutely not possible that I could feel somethink like that for Al.  
With a short push I got that feelings off my mind.  
"So you've been married", I remarked. I was aiming to hurt him. Al was silent for a few seconds. I sensed rage, hatred and sorrow. But as soon as I was aware of this, his impulses diminished

"How am I suppose to get your back to your church like that? I can't teach you in that uncontrolled state of mind. And I can't let a female demon run lose on the other side of the lines." I couldn't fucking believe it, he just switched the topic of our discussion. I snarled at him.  
"Rachel, stop acting like an animal, you aren't one! Control means anything and you must control it by any means. Breathe! Concentrate on something what has nothing to do with magic, witches, demons and such. Pick a memory in your past, a good one. Hold on to it, and rebuild yourself around that one memory." he exclaimed. Clearly pissed and helpless, but his earlier comment about my home was enough to bring me back..

"What? Are you telling me that I can't go back home?" Fear came to me like a big cat and nestled around my soul, making me feel more like myself since I awoke.  
"Exactly, that's what I'm telling you. But this isn't the only place you can't stay right now. Your control is too weak to stay with other demons, even me. You are too faintly a female to raise a child just now. And with me you will end up pregnant as soon as I lose my nerves to brother with the amulets. With others you will end up killing them almost for sure. In Newt's tender care you would lose yourself completely. Which would affect me as well, thanks to our bond. Back to your side of the lines is out of the question, since we don't know if you would be pulled back to the ever after at sunup. Besides I don't know if holy ground is going to deny you passage." I sat there, starring at him. Was my live really over?

"No... bring me back to Ivy and Jenks. Now!" I ordered loudly and with panic thick in my voice.  
"I can't with your eyes turning demon-female green. We don't know how much witch genetics got burnt out of you."  
I blinked, not understanding this. It seemed my brain was shutting off.  
"What do you mean? Burnt out?"  
"You were channeling all the lines at once as you hit the peak of orgasm. I must admit, this was a very tough stunt even for a female. It was something a witch would never have survived. Since you are still alive and your eyes appear to be fully demon, as well as your scent, it brings me to the conclusion that you are not a witch-demon in-between anymore."  
I raised myself from the bed, absolutely clueless as to what I should do now.

"No Al, it can't be. It just can't be. You can't do that to me. Send me back!" I was halfway to accusing him of double-crossing me again, but I had to sneeze first.  
Al's eyes fixed on me, worry entering his expression. A second sneeze came, together with a lightly pain in my stomach.  
"What is it?" He asked. But I got the feeling he already knew what was up with me.  
My guts cramped up and pain hit me right in the middle. I looked at Al's eyes as I finally realized I was being summoned.

* * *

Here we are with part three of the fiction about Rachel and Al and some major demon-nature-problem.  
Rachel blames Al for something he hasn't done. Al gives Rachel some piece of his mind.

I thought that demon-sex should make a huge difference to witch-sex. So I included a little aftermath for them.  
And to be my normally mean self, both of them are geting a short straw.

I'm planing on more sequels, like how Ivy and Jenks will take the news, and maybe a new encounter with Nicky.  
Thanks for helping me with my english ThoughtCriminal :)


	4. Friends and Betrayal

**A demoness awakens IV**  
**Disclaim**: _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".**  
**Pairings:** Rachel / Ivy (a little)  
**Charas:** Rachel / Ivy / Jenks / Ceri  
**Summary:** Rachel has been summoned home. And is very grateful for it. Until her friends figured out why exactly she is dressed with a beds sheet. And as always Rachels live makes a turn from bad to worse.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens IV:_ Friends and Betrayal_**

The pull got stronger and stronger, and finally I gave in to the summoning. The line toke my right the moment Al sprang to his feed, cursing wildly.  
A timeless moment later I misted into existince on my side of the lines. I needed a moment to realize where I had been summoned to. This was my kitchen, my church. So my friends were the ones to summon me, probably because they thought I was in big trouble with the demons.  
Well they couldn't have been more accurate about this.  
A tear ran over my face and my eyes found, Jenks, Ivy and Ceri. I had way better friends than I deserved  
"Rachel", the little man screamed in exaltation, dusting silver sparkles all over the place. He was halfway to my current position, when a sheet of black tainted ever-after rouse around me. Trapping my inside my selfdrawn circle. How ironic.  
Jenks came to a sudden halt and looked at Ceri. The elven woman was as white as a sheet of blanched paper.

"What the hell?", us three partners of Vampires Charms said in unison.  
Ceri backed off a few steps, starring at me in complete shock and disbelief.  
"You… you are a demon for real. Your eyes, like Al's… Rachel?", the last was more a question than a statement.  
"Ähhh… ähm… ", I was at a total lose of words right now. Desperatly searching for an answer that would get me out of her circle and into my shower and bed. I was so damn tired.  
"Ceri it's me, who else do you think runs around with my name?", she looked even more scared now. Ok, not at my best insightfulness, I should have seen this reaction coming.  
"Look, I'm death tired, it has been a hard day. I want a shower and my bed", I said, unwilling to share my new portion of knowledge with them.

"But Ceri is right, your eyes are looking demonlike", this was from my favorite vampire roommate. I gave a sigh and pulled a bit to forceful at my disobedient hair.  
"I can't tell you right know… let's just say there had been an incident", I uttered with a great thread of denial in it. They would totally mop the floor with me if they got the knowledge of my newest manhunt, and I just hadn't the nerves for the upcoming conversation yet.  
"Incident, you mean like Newt-blasphemered-the-whole-damn-church-incident, don't you?", Ivys eyes dilated a bit. It didn't look good for me.  
"Holy shit", Jenks said and than there was a worried smirk on his face.  
"Rachel is there any reason why you're only wearing a bedsheet?", he grined.

My face went red and must have looked like my hair at the moment.  
"I dont want to talk about it!", I announced very dominantly. All of them were looking at me in puzzlement. And I really just missed the fact that I was more or less naked, while summoned from the ever-after. I would kill Al for that reason alone.  
That brought me to the question where that futile demon of mine was at the moment, wasn't he about to follow my call? His so called protection was useless! What if the summoners would have been the coven?  
The Pixy buzzed a bit from left to right until he changed directions.  
"Let me put his together for you. You turn up in a bedsheet, red as a tomato. So I take it, you had sex with a man. Since we all knew about your liaison with Pierce it must have been a new one", the Pixies leered even more, if that was even possible.  
"This ought to be a good one?", the leader of the Pixieclan said.  
"But who else is in the ever-after, don't forget Al would never let her stroll around on his school day...", Ivy asked the pixy. Silent felt on them as they figured out my worst nightmarish secret in seconds.

Everyone were gaping at me in noiselessness, the quiet before the tornado hits. No one was watching Ceri so far, and a little drop in the line draw my attention to her.  
Pur instincts let me hurl to the floor right in time. Her protectioncircle vanished with a searing sensation. The spell hit the fridge and it vaporized in an instant.  
Did that damn woman just lost her fucking mind? Throwing such a potent lethal shit around my kitchen?  
"What …", the pixy said. But the rest of his sentence was lost to me because the furious elfin jumped on the island corner and fired a second curse at me. I evaded it to the left nearlly geting myself killed because I tangled with the sheets of Al's bed. Jenks got in Ceri's face, making her lose focus for a second. I got my feet under me right in time to get the next curse almost in the face.  
Intuitively I taped the line and with a clunky effort I misaligned her spell. It hit somewhere else in the room and made me hope it hadn't struck anything alive.

She was muttering something in latin again, and I didn't expected it to be any less ogreish than the first two. I had had enough. She was trying to kill my, risked my friends by doing so and demolished my home. I felt back a step, draw all the physical inertia I could muster into my move and hit her right in the face with a good solid round-house kick. She lost her concentration and balance. I went to my knees and pulled the falling elf over the edge. Wrestling her down to the floor and pinning her wrists above her head.  
I growled at her and Ceris face went ashen.

Jenks was a nova of black dust as he descended on us. Not quite sure whom of us he should threaten with his bared sword. I snarled at him too.  
Ivy rounded the corner, her eyes were black and she looked worried.  
"Behave you two, or you will get a taste of pixiesword", he exclaimed loud enough to hurt my eyeballs.  
"She tried to kill me... in my own home, this is intolerable", my voice sounded alien again, dark and deep. I sensed the three of them cringe.  
The elven lady began to fight for her freedom under my naked frame.  
"And I will not take this insult unpunished, give me a reason to let you live", I taped the line again, and than I reached through Ceris body and sent hot energy into her body.  
Her eyes widen in shock as she tried to spindle all the ever-after I flowed her with. It toke my less than two seconds to shatter her defenses, and she turned into a screaming wailing mass.

Someone touched my shoulder, bare skin and silk wandered over my body and the ever-after switched to that person. I heard a heartbreaking scream and I felt the invasion of anothers aura.  
It toke my a blink of an eye to identify the aura, the voice and the scent. I was gluting Ivy with unbound ever-after. Instantly the insane rage of mine was gone, token aback by the concern for Ivy. I dropped the line and catched her falling figure.  
"Ivy?", I sounded like myself again, the elfi was absolutly silent below me.  
Jenks was cursing colorful at me and everything. I got to my feet without taking much notice of it.  
"Ivy?", I was worried sick about her. The sheet fell again from my shoulders, leaving me bare to the world. My fingers touched her face, went down to her neck, checking for a pulse and finding one. She was not undead, thank you God, just thank you.  
Tears overwhelmed my and I sank to the floor while holding Ivy close to my.

"Rachel?", she asked with a very husky voice. I could have kissed her right know.  
"Are you ok... damn I'm sorry... I'm so sorry", I cryed.  
"I didn't want to hurt you, Ivy I'm sorry... ", our eyes met, hers were brown again, and sooo sad. I gulped.  
"Since I slept with... A... l ... there is something majorly wrong with me... even before I did so... there was something amiss", I bit my underlip in a desperated effort to get the whole damn story out of me.  
"He talked about demoninstincts, females, mating and the like. I don't get it. He said I burnt the witch out of me. I don't want to be a demon, being in between is bad enough", I wailed mutly.  
"Ivy I don't want to get back there", The blackhaired vamp put the coverage red silk over my exposed skin and encircled me within her arms, drawing me to her. And the crying got worse. She just sat there and stroked my hair. While Jenks had our backs, and occupied the elven woman.

Ceri seemed to recover fast, because she was already on her feet.  
"You slept with him", hatred in her voice  
"How could you?", she looked at me, even if I didn't saw it, I felt it.  
She wasn't going to get an answer out of my mouth. Because it would have been something like 'didn't you too?'  
"Be quiet, don't you see she had no choice. I'm going to kill that demon for doing that to Rachel. And if you try to kill her again I will not overlook it either. Are you two in for the kill", Ivy asked with a very dark voice.  
Jenks toke his Peter Pan pose and let a pixy-battlecry fall from his lips.  
"Do trees lose their leaves at fall! Of course, like you would be able to pull this stunt without me!", he grined so sure of himself.  
"You can't kill Al", this was a word from the blond ex-familiar.  
"No not without help, we can't. So are you in as well?", Ivy asked again.

Ceri was clearly qualmish and moved slightly on her feet.  
"It is not an easy tasked, byside he let me live", she fucking tried to defend him.  
"Yes and thanks to whom are you alive and your soul is yours again?", I said faintly.  
"Wasn't it me who saved you, you ungrateful bitch", Ceri glanced it me with a hurting expression on her face. I couldn't care less, she had betrayed me.  
She was about to mutter a response, but I cut her off, still crying at Ivys chest.  
"Just get out of my church", it sounded whiny-voiced, but it held some force inside of it. Maybe the rage was going to make a return. Something I clearly didn't want. With that demonshit it would get even more difficult to not kill anyone.

Ceri turned around on her heels and left the building without as much as a word of departure.  
"Damn it all back to the turn, and Tink's a disneywhore. You're in some deep fairy shit. Can't I leave you alone for one damn day you stupid lameass witch. And you just cast away an important ally, when it comes to kill that rotten fairy fart sniffing bastard of a demon", Jenks started to fall into his own babble of rage.  
"We aren't going to kill him", I said with much more force than I original intended. Ivy stoped peting my head and looked at me.  
"I have lost enough friends, and parts of my live, I don't want to lose you two. Byside I don't want anyone killed"  
"This applies to the demon as well. With everything he had done to you?", this was Ivys question, a bit bemazed. Jenks was about to give me a piece of his mind.  
"Yes it does, period", I got to my feed, excluding myself of Ivys warm touch and her calming scent and willed myself over in direction of my living quarters.  
It was about freaking time this fucking day ended.

* * *

So, and faster as I expected there is the forth chapter of my fic. Rachel got summoned home. Her friends figure out about her sleeping around with Al fast. An unexpected party throws a temper tantrum. Some fighting takes place.  
Thanks the Gods no one got killed. At least until now.

Sadly there was no Al in it this time, but that brings one to the question, what occupies our badass demon, doesn't it. Well maybe we will find out. *grin*

And now as the knowledge about Rachel's turning to demon is on this side of the lines, it's only a matter of time until Trent will get hold on this information. How will he react?

**Thanks for your help and your comments**  
_- ThoughtCriminal_  
_- eltigre221_  
_- ._


	5. A party's invitation

**A demoness awakens V**  
**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
_This is part five of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".**  
**Pairings:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Newt  
**Summary:** Rachel got summoned and as Al was about to follow her call, he got some visit inside his bedroom. Of course last nights actions weren't left unseen by the demon-community. Now they both would have to pay for it.

_Please enjoy_

_

* * *

_**A demoness awakens V: _A party's invitation_**

"No Al, it can't be. It just can't be. You can't do that to me. Send me back!" She practical screamed at me. I felt one of my eyes twitch slightly, this damn former witch was driving me mad with her hysteric gabble. Like usuall she was acting like she was the only person with problems in the two worlds. Totally ignoring the fact that I, as her teacher, was going to be blamed for her falling into heat. If I was very unlucky it would get me an appointment with the courts. Maybe even worse. She sneezed once.  
'There it comes, here it comes,' it irritated my that she was the one who got the call about our upcoming lawsuit. Since I was a bonded demon male by now, I was outranked by the social standing of my own student. It made my furious, to even think about that.  
She didn't even knew how to answer this call, since she wasn't in possession of her communication mirror. Rachel had left it at her church for sure. She sneezed a second time.  
'Damn my dame get your call, itchy-witchy,' The redhead didn't even seemed to know what was going on. And I wasn't going to help her.

"What is it?" I asked sweetly but absolutly unhelpful. If she outranged me now, she should damn well figure it out herself. Rachel parted her lips to say something, but thought otherwise, fell silent as she put her arm around her middle. Her facial expression distorted in pain.  
There was something else wrong with her, this was no call from the courts, it was a summoning. She realized it maybe a few splits of a second later than me.  
Our demonic eyes met, complet quietness enlaced us for seconds. Her pain grew with each passing moment. I sprang to my feet cursing colorful, but it wouldn't help much, even our combined powers couldn't interrupt a passwords pull.

With the practice of a few summons on her mind, she dropped the struggle to maintain her form this side of the lines and jumped.  
That left me alone with her scent on my body and mind. Who on the greens of earth was so damn stupid as to summon an unstable, untrained female who just bonded herself to me.  
I was almost able to muster a bit of pity for this poor fellow.  
That one was going to get a full potion of her wrath, and if she was anything like with Pierce, it was a clear death sentence. I just had to sit down and wait, since she wasn't experienced with line jumping, I was bound to pick her up.  
I was halfway to the beds soft surface, as the thought of who might be summoning her struck me. What if the coven…  
Unbidden worry blossomed in my soul. I had the sudden urge to check on her. I taped a line, trying for her mental signature which I needed to follow her call.

I just found it, than I started sneezing. That day was really one of those you better erase entirely from the calender. I checked if someone was about to pull me over by my password, that would get them an instant annihilation. I usually wasn't very enthused of being summoned, but this would be the worst timing ever.  
With a snort I realized it was just my line ringing. Even if it was the courts, I was about to ignore it completely, the save keeping of my mate was more of an exigency, than them. No demon could blame me for my decision.  
I matched my aura to the line's and yelled as a sudden outburst of energy ran through me. This wasn't happening often but someone just cancelled my flight by jumping into my room the same instant I tried to get out of it. Someone must have disspelled my security net to enter my bedroom uninvited.

It hurt and left me a bit of light-headed. My fingers found the warm wooden column of my bed for support, while my glowing red orbs of sight searched for the sorry intruder.  
"Gally dear, you are withholding agitating tidings," that voice sent a cold chill down my spine. Why off all the people I knew, it had to be Newt who entered? Must have been my luck. I taped the line quickly and changed my clothes to the usual green fork coat.  
"Ahh, Newt, what earns me the honour of your dazzling presence?" She raised the piece of skin where one of her eyebrows once resided. She clearly got my sarcasm right.  
"You're in my bedroom. Is this an allusion for the purpose of your visit?" Of course I let my mouth get the best of me.  
"Two different females in one day? Oh Gally, my love you're a lady-killer, isn't one of us enough for you?" Even if the crazy bitchs voice was sweet and soft, I knew her to long for this act to work.  
"I don't think it would be healthy to overstrain your stamina. You don't want to disappoint her, do you?" The bald, androgynous demon circled one bedpost and let her fine fingers touch the wood. Black eyes were piercing my calmness, and I couldn't helped but feel a bit threaten.

Newt was not only the powerful ruler of the ever after, but she was also totally insane and unpredictable. Not a good mixture if you asked me.  
"Well, well, love, so where might be that fortunate bride of yours?" Newt circled the next post of wood, while the golden ornament on its surface liquefactioned. I gulped and backed up a few steps.  
"She is occupied with business right now, but it would be a great pleasure for me to give your words back to her." Damn she wanted to get her hands on Rachel, what would be the best way to survive Newts attention. I was martyring my brain for an answer.  
"Ts, ts, ts. Gally, you two are the first demon couple getting married for 5000 years, it would just be outright rude not to congratule both of you," One of her fingernails traced through the molten metal. She raised that finger to her lips and cleaned it with her tongue.

"I must tell you I'm a bit hurt, for not been invited into the ceremonie," she put down her purple stovepipe hat, baring a bald head and threw the thing on my bed.  
Her eyes even if pitch black were holding a disaproving gaze.  
"I hope I'm at least invited in the big party. There will be a big party, wouldn't it?" Newt stoped in her walk and examined me more intensivly. It gave me the willies, because it felt like a thousand ants were runing in my veins. Our great ruler never had that particularly effect on me, normally she made me uneasy and a bit of warily in her presence. But this emotions were unusual, was it the part of Rachels soul what made me feel like this or was it the fact that I was a token demon. I thought about my first mate, but couldn't find any similarities. Maybe it had something to do with the fact of Newt killing her in the great war.  
"Gally?" She fliped her finger a few times nearlly in fornt of my face.  
"I'm speaking to you, it's very uncivil to dwell in your own mind, while I stand directly in front of you." Newt formed a pout with her fine blood red lips. But she instantly got back my full attention.

"Party?"  
"Yes, party! There must be one, it's a great blowoff. And not inviting all you fellow demons and there familiars would create a big scandal. It might even result in a lynching mop runing after you. Do you want that?" Even if she sounded sweet as hell, she was moving in for the kill. I knew her patterns.  
"Of course not, but I was hoping to give that party later. They waited for over a 5000 years, what might be a year more or less for them?" To stick to the truth, I absolutly forgot that our bond would be a great reason for a party. Maybe that was due to the cause that I didn't feel much like partying right now.  
"Love, you know your brothers as well as myself, they wouldn't take that insult lightly." She grinned. Of course Newt had made her point, but I couldn't put my Rachel in a hall full of demons with her instincts runing wild. They would try to jump her bones, which would make me try to kill them. I always hated other people touching what was mine, and to lay hands on anothers mate was no little crime, not even back in the old days.

But how was I suppose to save Rachel and myself, I couldn't tell Newt about her weakness's, she would use it, so she could get a hold on the only other existing demon female. If I or Rachel would start to kill other demons at the party, Newt would put me in a bottle because I wasn't only the redheads mate but also her teacher, and was wherefore accountable for her behaviours. We were screwed six ways to Sunday.  
I would have to give away my teaching rights, to escape the bottle, but that would mean I had to leave my instinct driven mate at the mercy of another demon. And since the next demon in line for the teaching rights was Newt, that option was not offering a solution.  
"Gaaaallllyyy! Would you please stop zooming out on me!" The bald demon demanded with a smirk on her lips. She knew exactly that she had me right where she wanted me.  
I refocused my alertness on her.  
"I was only thinking about the organisation of the party," It wasn't an outright lie, because I was trying to create a possibility of survival for us.

She sighed and a black sheet of ever after run over her slim figure and realigned some of her features. Green eyes and red hair, she had taken the form of Rachel.  
A sardonic smirk appeared in her face, and it was totally unnerving coming from Rachels mimic. Hot anger flowed through me and I couldn't helped the menacing growl escaping my throat. This was bad, she was insulting our bond, and was now triggering all the wrong instincts.  
If I would dare to attack her she could kill me, which would left Rachel unprotected, let alone make me death for situation was the worst bullshit I was ever trapped in. But damn the dame and her king I would survive, no matter the costs.  
"I think now you wouldn't be that much distracted anymore. As I said a few seconds ago I took the freedom of arranging a party for the next fullmoon at the sealed palace. I will take away the seal so we all might enter our ancestors glory to party." She looked like the pure palace? Newt the last of the royals, would open the palace for our party? This was bad news, and a tripple laced trap for sure. I never had been invited into the palace, so I didn't know what was waiting for us inside its depths.

Newt knew me long enough that she tursts my ability to find a way to tame my mates instincts enough to have her in the middle of a demon party, without causing a mayhem. As long as I had time and knowledge of the threats aiming for me ... us ... I would be able to prevent any greater damages. So she drew in the palace an area I knew nothing about and was unlikely to get any information about.  
'Screw my down the red dusted river of time. Think Al, think quick!'  
Newt made a movement and was on the bed, the wild red mane of Rachel made her look even more dangerous.  
"I must thank you for your concern Newt, I cherish the keen time and effort you put into this. And my mate and me will be most pleased to be guest to this unrivalled event."  
It costs me more willpower than I thought I had, but I not only managed not to attack her, but also to sound sincererly.  
Newts lips twitched a bit, she looked a bit surprised. How did that woman thought I survived all this years under her lordship?

She focused her glance at me while she looked like she was about to rip my head off. Than a total different smile entered her expression, slowly with softness and erotic in her steps she walked over to me. Newt came to an halt directly in front of me, looking all alluring. It might have worked before my night with my itchy-witchy, but now this gesture appeared wrong and hollow to me.  
"If you might excuse me now Newt, I want to tell my mate the great news." She made a face as she figured out her little game wasn't working on me.  
She sat down on the pillows and tilted her head to the left, red hair framing her stolen face.  
"Why don't you just wait for her until the summons is over and she will be pulled back home?" Puzzlement was runing over the lines of her face.  
I kept quiet, she was right, I just could await her return, as I originally intented to do, but first I didn't know who summoned her, and second I wanted Newt out off my rooms.

"Ah I see, you don't trust your own chosen mate to keep herself save. Gally, dear, you're not known for associating yourself with the weak. A bad choise you made there, if you want it I can offer my helping hand." She was suggesting a way out of the bog, and undoubtedly one that would kill my Rachel.  
"You know exactly that she isn't weak, she is just young and will learn." I remarked, and got my tongue under control fast enough not to drop the hint about her line merging skills. If Newt felt her hi-jack all that energy it was at good bet she already forgot it. And it was best to leave it there with our most powerful and insane citizen.  
"Not weak," She said and bent forward to sniff the bed. That almost animallike behaviour reminded me of Rachel. Newt extended her but while she closed her eyes in bliss.  
That made me wish it would be Rachel on the bed, my thoughts got a will on their own and wandered off to all the little things I could do to her.

"You two smell nice together. Her scent is all demon. What curse did you use to get her into your bed, and made her smell like that, love?" I got the feeling her eyes were eating me, knowing exactly what was occuping my mind at the moment. I draw a deep breath and calmed the stirring fieriness inside of me.  
I walked around my bed to the post which ornament got destroyed by Newt and busied myself with bending ever after to repair the damage. The same moment I started answering Newts former question.  
"It kind of happend, to be true I never planed it to be so soon." I managed to let it sound almost bored, and let a grin appear in my face. The golden metal flowed back up, following my gesturing fingers.  
The female watched me doing so while she slided over the silky surface, but she uttered no comment. I disliked her acting as well as her silence.  
Was she scentmarking my bed to piss off my itchy-witchy, after she saw that she wasn't able to strip me off my self-control.

The gold was back at its place and was hardening. My eyes flew back to the demoness on my bed. If someone would have told me that I would have both existing females in my bed on the same day, I would have laught my ass off. But it wasn't funny in the least.  
"I thank you for bringing the great news, about you hosting the party to our tribute in person. But if nothing else is keeping you thoughts occupied, which you wish to share with me, I would appreciate if you could leave."

It might not have been the wisest choise of my entire live to speak so earnest, but the woman got out of my bed, even changed back to her purple dressed and hairless self.  
She starred at my window and walked over to it, like she had totally lost interest in me. She touched the charmed class and spread her fingers softly.  
"I like that window, what's showing on its surface?" Newt totally switched topics, and lost all her previously menacing aura with it. If I wouldn't have over 5000 years in dealing with that person, it would have thrown me off my track, but so I just flowed with the stream.  
"This is Lake Baturin in Sitka, Alaska by daylight"  
She turned her face in my direction and examined me questioning.  
"What am I doing in your bedroom Gally?" The female even managed to sound puzzled. I raised my shoulders in denial.  
"I was going to ask the same question, love," she made a face at my nickname for her and jumped out of my room without a comment. I dropped to the bed and sighed, for the time being I was out off the line of fire, and so was my student.

I made a to-do-list in my mind. First on the list was to make clear if Newt really arranged a party, if she haven't told any other demon about it, the odds were on our sides, that she might forget it. If she had told another one I would have to visit the grand libary to find a way and curse to tame Rachels raging instincts, as well as intel about the royal family and their palace.  
If this was done I would have to deal with that stupid piece of witch-familiar-shit what started the whole desaster. I was positiv that Rachel would totally freak on me if I killed him right now, so I had to invent another method to make him as uncomfortable as possible.  
And last but not least, I had to make sure she was save.  
I turned to my window and waved my hand while the picture in the glass changed to some Cincinatti back alley.

The bright picture was proving my instincts right, it was daylight, so the lines were closed to cross-traveling. At least for demons.  
I closed my eyes and willed my mind to pick up the resonance of my mates aura, my line sang with the search and found her, sound and save.  
I had a whole day to figure out how to solve all that problems. I arose from the bed and picked up the sheets to destroy them, no reason to taunt Rachel instincts with Newts smell.

* * *

So, and faster as I expected there is the fifth chapter of my fic.  
I promissed you to give big Al a good excuse not to follow Rachel. Well lets just say, our witchy girl isn't the only person with a lot of problems on her back.  
And now she has one major problem more.

How is Al going to solve the problems at hand, and what will be the costs which comes with his solution.


	6. Side effects

**A demoness awakens VI**  
**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
_This is part six of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".****  
Pairings:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Ivy / Jenks  
**Summary:** Rachel had been summoned by Ceri to her church. Now she is tired and want to go to her bed. But something isn't quite working like it was suppose to. Her little adventure with Al had some bad results, byside her fight with her friends.

_Please enjoy_

_

* * *

_**A demoness awakens VI: _Side effects_**

"Yes it does, period", I got to my feed, excluding myself of Ivys warm touch and her calming scent and willed myself over in direction of my living quarters.  
It was about freaking time this fucking day ended.

I was walking over to my living quarters, one moment everything was ordinary fine, yeah like fine would be a way to describe my life, and the next a strange buzzing filled the air.  
I stoped dead in my track, and listen to that strange sound. It was like a very deep bass in the disco. My teeth rattled with it.  
"What's this?" I asked the air around me, like it would give me an answer, most likely not. I shook my head and ignored the sound, to damn tired to scream at a construction worker for making noises, or hunting a damn sound that probably only existed in my mind.  
A snort left my mouth and I steped further, only to have that buzzing changed to a hiss. I stoped again and stared at the ground in front of me.

Was I losing my mind or was the damn floor hissing at me. I hissed back and took the next step, pain erupted in my foot, shot through my body and made me wobble back.  
"What the freaking hell?" I cursed and tried it again, the result didn't changed at all.  
I took a whole step back, the hissing changed back to a mild buzzing. My eyes watched the damn hallway and anything was completely normal.  
The familiar drift of Jenks wings touched me, he landed on my shoulder.  
"Hey Rache, what's up? Why are you standing here like trash on a Wednesday?" He asked in puzzlement spiced with a bit of worry.  
"I don't know, can't walk into the hallway. It hurts," I told the pixy while my brain refused to make the right conclusions.  
"Tinks titties in a twister. You know, here starts the blessed part of the church, you can't enter hallowed ground anymore."  
I would have looked at him, if he weren't sitting on my shoulder. He took to the air and screamed "Ivy!" while he was going for her part of the church.

I dropped to my knees and leaned against the hallway wall, while my head came to rest on my hands. Again I was crying. The evidence that I wasn't a witch anymore were heaping up. Demon-eyes, demon-scent and no room I could call my own any more. That's Rachels life.  
Okay talking about myself in third-persons view was a so no-good sign.  
My thoughts were interrupted by a blurr of living vamp, what was suddenly byside me. She helped my to my feet and conducted my to the couch in the back of the church, that was on unblessed grounds for our undead clients. It made me suddenly very relieved that we left out that part on purpose.  
"Sh, Rachel, it's alright. Sit down, I gonna make some coffee for you. Just sit and calm down." Ivy was gone a moment later, before I even could martyr my brain for something rudimentary bright to answer.

Her eyes were black, and her switching to a vampires speed while not necessary was a bad sign, she was lossing control. Jenks dropped on my left knee and looked up at me, his wings a blurr of orange, something between worry and fury.  
I hadn't stoped crying by now.  
"I can't ... it can't...," I started to refuse the reality of what my life had become.  
"Rache ...," the pixy wings came to a halt, he demanded attention and walked over my leg in restless agitation. Ivy reentered the areal, the smell of coffee hit me hard, she put the burning hot liquid on the table and this was the moment the sun picked to rise.

Disorientation swam through my mind, made me feel light-headed while the line began to fill me. I hadn't taped it, that thing was acting on its own, fear joined the confusion in my mind. It was trying to match my aura to its, a success would end with me trapped in the ever after till sundown. This was the missing drop in the sink, the one that broke the camel's back. I growled, which made both of my friends recoil from me.  
I grasped the couchs cushion and closed my eyes, concentrating on my aura and began to chance it at will. Everything was going to be fine, as long as the signatures weren't matching, the line couldn't pull me back.  
I was staying this side of the lines, no matter what.

A stinging burning pain began to ran through my veins, amplifying by each second I withstood the pull. It made a part of me curious if I would burst into flames like an undead vampire in case sunlight should touch me. I gritted my teeths against the agony, and focused on my task.  
"Rachel?" Ivy asked, apparently fighting for my attention, one I wasn't able to muster without losing my fight against the pull.  
"Look at me!" She demanded and rose my face to hers, I opened my eyes, that was more an automatic reaction then an act of purpose. My vision was clouded with red, and surrounded by black. Nausea was overwhelming me, and I closed my proves of alieness against the world again.  
"Crap on toast, what is wrong with Rachel?" Jenks asked with a voice near to hysterics.

"I think she is going to be pulled back to the ever after." Ivy sounded completely drained of emotions, which was as bad as Jenks panic. It meant the vampire was felling something awful and was maybe about to lose it.  
The pain was getting worse and I griped Ivy by her collar, drawing her to me, not carring if she would bite me or not I latched onto the last straw given to me.  
"I don't care, I'm not going back there, even if it kills me. I'm not going back like a demon!"  
The sentence ended with a scream of mine.

"Rachel, stop being stupid." Ivy was about to start reasoning with me, and this was so not going to work.  
"No!" I exclaimed with all the fury in my mind, my voice echoed back from the walls.  
"I slept with IT, my eyes have changed, I got a nasty instinct driven temper, and to top that off I'm now forbidden to enter my own damn room. This is as far as it gets! I'm staying, even if I have to tear the fabric of the worlds apart!"  
The last was almost a growl again. I felt both their eyes on me. The pain changed from pure burning to a more familiar one, the line was flowing me with ever after.  
"Oh hell, no! Tulpa!" I muttered and started spindleing line-energy as fast as I could, filling my mind as full as possible, but my skills weren't up to the task. It was almost as bad as my first experience with jumping the lines. I hissed at the pain, and Ivy's arms were enclosing me. She was talking, but whatever she was saying was lost to the rushing of blood in my ears.

Her aura encircled mine, and the pain dimished. I was breathing fast and hard but thankful for Ivys protection.  
"Rache, your aura!" Jenks said in alarm.  
"Yes, I know. Thank you Ivy." Of course the pixy must have seen the merging of Ivy's and mine. Ivy was grinning at me.  
"It's good to know it's helping you." Her voice sounded a bit less chestfallen now.  
Sadly it only lasted a few seconds, because then the all to familiar limb-cramping pain hit me. It was like twisting demoncurses, blackness was about to bury my very soul under it. Against better knowledge I started to fight the suffocating sensation, but it would kill me if I wasn't able to put up with the unbalance I envoked.  
It had hit me without any warning, I hadn't messed with natures laws here, why was I receiving the debt for it? I cursed the worlds unfairness and accepted the blackness.  
I was a damn demon, a bit more of darkness on my golden aura wouldn't matter in a few decades anyway. With that acceptance the pain was gone.

It was silent for the next few minutes, then a drop fell to my cheek. I opened my eyes and looked at a crying Ivy. She registered that I had seen her break down and collected herself fast, released me from her arms and was gone with her vampire speed.  
That left me alone with Jenks, thankful neither the pain nor the flow of ever after came back.

The pixy landed on the coffee table and his orange glowing wings droped.  
"You're paying with blackness for very moment on this side of the lines, Rachel." He uttered quietly with a shocked expression on his face.  
His kin had the ability to sence auras, so I didn't doubted his declaration,. Nevertheless I had to see it, had to sense it, without that confirmation I wouldn't be able to accept it as a fact..  
So I closed my eyes and concentrated on my aura, it felt somehow wrong and alien to do it, but after a few deep breaths I became aware of a mild rasping sensation on my mind. I compared it with the percipience you get when you have thousands of little spiders wandering around on your skin, unconfortable and utterly disgusting.  
"Rachel, are you okay?" His tiny voice broke my thoughts before I could fall into panic.

I reopened my eyes and looked at him.  
"Not really, it feels like spiderattacks or something", shaking myself free of the vision I was creating. His expression of worry boosted a few degrees.  
"I don't like the sound of that." He started wandering on the wood in circles.  
"Nature refuses your very presences after sunup. This is going to be a problem. You're able to stay this side for today. But what about tomorror? What about the costs?" I kept silent, not wanting to interrupt his monologue.  
"Ivy is worried sick about this, I'm sure she thinks you're leaving for real this time."  
"I'm not leaving!" I said with a bit of anger in my voice.  
"Come on Rachel, don't be silly. Counting all the facts it might be best if you would", all cleverly ripostes left my brain, tears were gathering in my eyes.

"You want me gone?" He was one of the two people I trusted most, and this was his reaction to my problems? He was sending me away because of my demon heritage. I couldn't believe this. He raised his face and recorded my tears, he turned a bit pale and his wings were bleeding light blue.  
"The turn take it, no I don't WANT you gone. Are you crazy, stupid witch?" Jenks screamed at my face his wings turning deep red. That outburst shocked me again and he won a few seconds to convince me he meant it. His color turned dark blue.  
"I wish you could stay with us. You're family, Rachel. You and Ivy are like two additional daughters to me. Losing you would be almost as bad as losing Matalina."  
A big rock was falling of my chest, he wasn't judging me. Sadly it lasted only a few moments, because the little man was talking again.  
"This is not about our wishs, it's about facts and what would be best for you."  
"Best for me? The ever after, you have to be kidding, Jenks"  
"Actually this matter is a bit to serious to make silly jokes about it," he defended himself.

"Tell me it would be better to stay here, polluting your aura futher. Suffering each time the sun raises. Do you really think as your friends and family, we would want that happening to you?"  
"I would do a lot more than collecting darkness to stay with the two of you."  
"A dubious honor, we love you Rachel. But you have to start taking better care of yourself. You could start with breaking the habit of inflicting harm on yourself for our sakes. Ivy and I will be okay, at least after a while. For this to work you probably have to grow up and accept that you might be a demon, bound by their lawns and restrictions."  
"The turn take it, I don't want to be a demon!" I hissed at him and clenching my hands into fists.

"Why not, what's the problem with it?" Jenks asked in his typical Peter Pan pose.  
"What's the problem? You really need an answer to that one? Okay, look. Those demons, are powerhungry bastards, hacking at each others hands for small benefits, betraying and manipulating every time you give them the chance, killing and enslaving other people. Do you need more!" My voice was an inch between screaming hysterical and angry.  
He raised his hands in a gesture of peaceableness.  
"Rachel, being a demon does not chance who you're. And who you're is not defined by the kind you belong to, but by your acts. You were the first inderlander seeing me as person, and for Ivy you're the first true friend. No lame ass gensplit is going to change our love for who you're." His wings turned a lesser dark blue, but he wasn't the image of our chearful pixy either. Jenks words where able to arouse some hope in my soul, that my inner self would be able to survive being a demon.

"But I'm afrait that this will change if I stay with Al for to long." He laught at this and looked me in the eyes, his wings rose a bit with it.  
"Rachel, no matter where you are, you're a force of nature, like an element. Don't forget you made me give mercy to the fairies who killed my wife. I don't think even that old greezer will be much of a challenge for your goody-goody character."  
"What's that suppose to mean?" Even if he might uttered this as a compliment it surely wasn't sounding like one.  
"Rachel you have a annoying habit of wanting to save everyone. This is one of your strongholds but also one of your greatest weaknesses. I wouldn't put it beyond you to change a whole realm full of demons."  
"Jenks they are over five-thousand years old, and you know the saying about old dogs and new tricks?" One of the qualities about Jenks was his straight to the point, easygoing nature. Maybe this came from the 20 years of life expectancy, pixies don't have much time to waste it with nonsense talking.

"Face it, it's a place full of men with only one woman to rule them. And it's an insane one. You will make a difference. You changed the world of weres, you're working on saving vampires souls. You gave hope to the elven and now you are the demons gleam of hope for changing their world." He was probably right about this, but that wasn't the only problem in the ever after waiting for me.  
"Jenks... promise me not to kill me." His speech was so positive I just had to share the other not so obvious result of my one-night stand with Al.  
He raised his wings in an inquiring gesture.  
"My mistake not only burnt the witch out off me, it made me, how was the demon phrasing it... his mate ... his wife." Jenks lost all his colors.  
"Pass this by me again," He was to calm for my taste, and it made me worried.  
"He said it were... äh my inner demons instincts or something like that. My instincts chose him, and somehow I'm attracted to him. But I don't want to."  
"Oh god damn it, Rachel. We leave you alone for what, five hours or so and you go off marring a demon?"

"Not marring, they can't enter churchs, you know. He called it bonding." The pixy just blinked at me.  
"I don't understand it either, but we feel each others emotions. And I'm afraid to see him again, I don't trust myself in his environment." My mind ran off with the image of his naked body, his scene, his fingers on my skin and heat erupted inside my body. Suddenly I longed for his touch, a part of my soul seemed to reach for him, only the pixies sharp whistle of wings prevented a success.  
I reopend my eyes, only now getting what I had almost done. Shock was a mild understatement for the state of mind I was in.  
"Tink and her fairylover's hairy ass, Rachel!" Jenks cursed, flying directly in front of my face, it made it hard to focus on him.

"You're lusting after Al? After a demon? And I thought Pierce was a bad choice." I couldn't help it but he sounded surprised.  
"Sorry, don't remind me of Pierce, he's the one responsible for that whole mass. At least Al said that. Pierce slept with me and his lineskills triggered that instinct. God damn it, it's making no sense even saying it out loud doesn't help."  
The pixy dropped to my leg and sat down.  
"Tell me everything!" I told him about Pierce and the coffee, about his powerpull idea, and after this how all went south, leaving out how desperated I was for Al's touch and how good it felt to sleep with a demon. I pointed in the direction of the destroyed TV over by the other coffeetable.

"This was my spell as I was aming for Pierce... life," he stared at me, disbeliefing.  
"You were trying to kill him. Not that I don't understand it but you and killing don't mix well."  
"Mh, my inner demon wasn't appartly concerned about it. Al saved his ass. I own him a favor for it."  
"You got a new demonmark?" Jenks fly around me and inspected my body, at least the parts not covered by the sheet. Al's sheet.  
"No, this was the first time that demon did something good. He hates Pierce and wants him gone, but he saved him nevertheless. Al wasn't doing it for me, but for himself. But he save anothers life. He restrained my from killing a person, so he has my thanks, and I intend to pay him for it."  
"We are not talking about sex, are we?" The pixy asked displeased.  
"No we aren't," that innuendo made my growl at him. "I will never sleep with him again!"  
Even saying it I doubted myself, not with that pull he had on me.

"Can you make Ivy bring some cloths over, I don't like being naked under the silk." Jenks saluted and was gone. Damn I was tired.  
I would use the few minutes to lay down and rest a bit. It took me less than a minute and I was asleep.

* * *

Hi there Rachel Morgan fans. This was the sixth part of my fic.  
This answered the question how much demon Rachel really is.  
And what's the cost for one to stay after sunup.  
Rachel is absolutly unlucky, and Jenks speech wasn't helping much.

Is she going back to Al, or will she try to stay longer. Is Al going to come after her at dusk or will he just use her summoningname.


	7. A way out?

**A demoness awakens VII**  
**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
_This is part seven of my fic._  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion".**  
**Pairing: **Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Ivy / Jenks / Trent  
**Summary:** Rachel felt asleep and awakes to Trent banging at her frontdoor. Of course the elfs visit isn't a formal call. He is seriously angry about Ceri's last visit at Rachels, and is now going to kick some asses. How is Rachel going to break the news about her change.

_Please enjoy  


* * *

_

**A demoness awakens VII: _A way out?_**

I didn't know how long I slept, but a knocking at the churchs frontgate let me return to my awareness. I felt like shit, and this was phrased very nicely. Each cell was filled with pain and my thoughts were a tangled mess. I used the silk sheet to hide behind, like hell I wanted the rest of the world to know I have turnt demon. Byside I really wasn't in the mood to answer my frontdoor. Ha ha, like I could, even if I wanted to, there was holy ground between me and the frontgate. With a sigh I stoped that train of thoughts before I might fall into depression.  
Jenks screamed something like:  
"I get that one," and opened the door with the pixy equivalent of a doorhandle.

"What by Tinks pink dress do you want now Trent? Rachel is not going to work for you. Ever again." The pixy asked a bit irritated.  
"Where is Rachel? I have to have a word with her," He must have entered the church because the pixy whistled and three of his kids entered the room. What was Trent doing here,I hoped he hadn't talked to Ceri, if so it might be my end.  
"No one invited you elfboy! You're entering my territory without premission, you either talk fast blondy or leave, unless you want to be pixed and cut by pixyswords."  
The threat was not to be taken lightly, whoever got himself pixed once in life knew how bad it was to have 24 hours of itching hell.

Trent stoped in his tracks to search for me on his own.  
"Be quiet dragonfly, I'm here to asked Rachel what she has done to Ceri. She came home all broken and crying, speaking only latin, with an accent I was unable to understand. Only thing I got out of her, is that it had something to do with Rachel and her demon. So find that witch of yours and make her answer my questions."  
I clenched the sheets and inhaled Al's scent, which was sadly able to calm my racing heard down a note. Trent was not threating directly, but I knew there was an addition to his sentence, he only left it unspoken. Maybe because he didn't want the pixyclan against him until he was save behind his sticky silk. Coward.

"Don't dare to give me orders Kalamack, you might rule the cities blackmarket but you ain't ruling here. Leave!" They where closing in on Trent, I got that much alone from the shocked intake of air.  
"I don't care, you will let me speak to her! Whatever she did to Ceri threw her into contraction." I stoped breathing, Ceri was in labor. That shocking news made me remember very second of our encounter. Oh God, please God, don't let me have hurt the child.  
"It's a month to early," Jenks squeak. that revelation seemed to even shock the old man. He liked Ceri a lot. Without knowing I was sitting upright.  
"Is she going to be okay, is the child going to be ok?" I asked sick with worry, so much anxiety I was temporarily able to forget about my new condition.

I wasn't planing on talking to Trent, but I felt responsible for the preterm birth of Ceris daughter. Light steps found me before I was prepared to answer to his wrath.  
"Get Ivy!" Jenks called to his kids and was after the elf before the man got within touching distance.  
"Let me give you an advice elfboy, the vampire has a very crappy mood, you better go before she rips your throat out." His winks were dusting dark red with a light orange at the edges, that meant anger because of worry.  
The blond bachlor waved at the pixy and ignored him otherwise. Getting pixed didn't seemed to be that much of a threat to him. Knowing Trent he probably had a spell or a drug against the itching. It also could be possible that he was so emotional involved that he was just past caring.

He stoped in front of me, towering over me. I squeezed my eyes shut, since I didn't want him to know what they look like now. I was afrait how he might react.  
"Talk to me Rachel, what the fuck have you been doing to Ceri. Tell me. Tell me what you demon-whore and that son of a bitch have been doing to her!" He screamed at me.  
For fucks sake he was the second person within two weeks which called me a demons whore.  
Ok the first one was a insane witch named Brooke and she had said 'demon sex pot' instead of 'demon-whore', the meaning was the same and it was pissing me off. Trents comment hurted more than Brooks, maybe because I knew Trent for long, and somewhat liked him or it was my loss of moral standards what made this one worse. I wasn't even able to bitch at him, because it was damn well true now. I opened my eyes.  
"Be careful with your words Trent, I had a very shitty day," I was advicing softly with a growl, while Ivy entered the hallway with eyes as black as the nightsky and her katana bared in her grip, clearly ready to kill. She was drawing an aura, it looked like black mist was surrounding her, like the personification of death. Beautyful and dangerous, I licked my lips.

Trent hissed and turnt totally motionless, starring right into my eyes, he had been about to hit me but now he recoiled like my aura had burnt his skin. He jumped back, felt over the coffeetable, taking the cup of now cold coffee with him and landed on his ass.  
His beige suit stained with coffee spots, his eyes and hair was wild and he stubbled back until he hit the armchair.  
"You ... you... are... a demon!" His comment hit deep inside of my heart, it hurt like hell, why the fuck I cared about what the murderous elf was thinking, was beyond me. The normally so controlled bastard Trent looked like he was going to lose his sanity in a panic attack. If all of this wasn't so damn serious, I would even enjoy denuding him of his composure.  
Ivy stoped in the hallway since Jenks flied into her line of view and took her attention.

Ivy was breathing hard, but she wasn't leaving me alone, so the vampire was up against her instincts. I never understood her problems fully until now, since Trents fear was turning me on. I bit my lips, and banished that feeling. It worked, but now the line was pulsing lightly again. Damn it all back to the turn, how was I suppose to controll that demon-shit. It was only pure luck that a strange calmness enclosed my thoughts. It dimished the hurtful comments effects and my need to take his fear and claim it as my own.  
"That's a long long story Trent. I really don't want to talk about it, but I think there is no helping it. What about you giving me information about Ceri's condition and her child's in return for data about mine?" I asked, he was getting to his feet, white as his hair and regressed until he hit the wall.  
"You even sound like one. Rachel what happend to you?"  
"Do we have a deal?" His fear was effecting me again.  
"And if it's possible, do something against your fear, unless you want Ivy bitting you." Or me, but I wasn't saying that one out loud.

The eyes of them both met over Jenks worried glow, and Ivy licked her lips in delight. Trent was pressing against the wall even more. But only for a few seconds, he closed his eyes and seemt do be counting to ten, his fear vanished, his mind swirled and he shifted to his bio-drug-lord mood. Maybe he was a bit schizophrenic too, funny that made two of us. With his mind as cold as ice I noticed that it was not the scent about fear what was turning me on, but the feeling itself.  
"Well, so might it be, we have a deal, demon. So I start with the questions. Are you truly Rachel Morgan of Vampires Charms?"  
"Yes I'm, Trenton Kalamack." I grined, wondering why he wasn't using my middlename, didn't he know it, or was it because he didn't want to sound like a demon. Thanks to my contact with Al I knew his middlename, but I didn't used it either, probably for the same reason.

"So it's my turn now, is Ceri going to be ok, which means is she hurt or going to end up with permanent damage to her body?" I wasn't asking about her soul or her feelings, she survived being Al's familiar for over a thousand years. If Ceri was one thing it was strong-willed. She was able to rebuild herself from a demons servitude, so this little shock would be nothing in the end. Byside I knew her much longer than Trent, and sacrificing one of my questions for something the elf doesn't know himself would be stupid.  
He looked at me like he had swallowed a big fly.  
"The testresults say she has some light burns on her wrists, her hormonal balance is off, and her psyche has suffered a huge trauma. Additional there is a concussion and a swollen cheek. I think she will be okay in a few days, with enough treatments. What happend to Ceri?"  
His green eyes were piercing mine.

Damn he asked a bad question, I didn't want to tell him. But he made a deal with me, that meant no lying, and no escaping. Very demon, damn, why was I behaving like that. A sigh left my lips. I closed my eyes, while a familiar wind came to rest on my shoulder. Jenks.  
"She summoned me from the ever after, and after she saw my eyes her reaction was the same as yours. Jenks figured out I had been... ahh... ," I wasn't able to say it.  
"Sleeping with Al," the pixy dropped the big bomb, and the elf was almost out of the chair again.  
"SIT! We aren't finished yet!" I hissed at him. And something about my voice made the man obey my order.  
"After that discovery she turnt insane and attacked me. Do you happen to see my kitchen? The floor is almost destroyed, the fridge was disintegrate, the wall is damaged good and it's only due to pure luck that no one got killed. She tried to kill me, I kicked her in the face and flung her on the floor...", the rest was lost again, but I trusted Jenks to fill him in, this time it was Ivy speaking.

"It seems she has something like we vampires have, an instinct what's not easy to fight, she flowed Ceri with ever after. But she didn't know what she was doing until I touched her."  
I looked at her, the eyes were black even now, but at least she wasn't holding her drawn katana any more. That let me chill out a bit more.  
Trent made a face and looked at me, disgusted, but he was about to asked the next question. I hold up my hand to silence everyone.  
"My time. Is the child undamaged?"  
The blond elf raised one of his eyebrows and I want to be able to do the same thing.  
"To my knowledge there had not been a greater damage to Ceris daughter. How the hell could you kick a pregnant woman in the face?" He accused me. Only now I got that this alone could be enough to cause her preterm delivery or even worse. I bit my lip, felling guilty.

"She tried to kill me, and my friends were in the line of fire, she was to mad to talk to, I didn't wanted anyone dead so I defended myself. The flowing was an accident."  
"How can gluting someone with energy be an accident?" He was disbelieving at best.  
"It seems to be a demon instinct to tap a line and use it to threaten people." I got the feeling it was not so good to give all this answeres.  
"Trent, will you try to kill me?"  
"This was not part of the deal," he said.  
"No it wasn't, but answering questions about what happend to Ceri wasn't either, so you own me an answer to this one." He was silent for a few seconds.  
"Like it looks now, yes, I'm, but maybe you have some good replies for me to convince me to do otherwise." Jenks took to the air and Ivy hissed at him.

It was most unlikely that he was about to exit the church unarmed if he would stick to his plan. But he was not the first person to hunt me.  
"Good, answers like what?"  
"Like why the hell do you have demon-eyes, why do you smell of burnt amber and why for the turns sake did you sleep with that disgusting demon?"  
"The whole thing started with Pierce."  
"The dead man?" I nodded  
"You remember your hunt, after I took the elfporn." Damn he looked unconfortable, and I liked that, why should I be the only one? He was probably thinking about me naked in front of him, on his press conference while we were recorded by the media.  
"We were hiding and your dogs made me afraid like nothing else in the world. After they were gone he charmed his way into my pants. He has lineskills behind good and evil. Al said that awakend the dormant mating-instincts of the demon inside my genes. Next time Pierce used his skills the instinct hit me hard and I lost every damn controll I ever had. See the place where the TV had been?"

He looked at it and nodded, his eyes were calculating, and I wasn't sure if I was about to dig my grave even deeper.  
"Pierce, according to Al, wasn't demon enough for my instincts, he ordered me around and I snapped, tried to kill him... and... this is the result. Al saved the man." Alone admiting to Al's good deed made me feel strange.  
"So and for saving Pierce you offered the demon your body?"  
"Damn you idiot, stop making me look like a harlot, it's already hard enough. No it just happend, I had no controll and only got it back after I awoke next to him... in his bed." I said. His disbelief wasn't getting down a note.  
"And after I was awake he said I burnt the witch out of me, this is the reason why I have those eyes."

"Mh so why are you here than, demons can't stay this side of the lines after sunup."  
I was thinking about the answer to this one, and it was like a strangers thought touched mine, it felt alien but also so right.  
"Apparently they can." This was from Ivy and she had her instincts under controll, her eyes were showing a little ring of brown.  
"Mh, so you three are telling me she is truly demon and can stay this side of the lines." He gulped worried. No one contradicted him. Nice to know no one thought I was a witch anymore.  
"Well than there is no helping it. Rachel, you and yours are forbitten to call my household and especially Ceri, I don't want any contact at all and neither of you near her. Understand? If you don't I will start killing people, and Rachel it would be you loved ones if I can't take you out."

That got my attention back, I pushed the thoughts out of mine and looked at Trent. Hot lead flowing through me.  
"Don't order me around you fucking asshole, so I might be a freaking demon, so what? You prejusting bastard! Who's fault is this, mister druglord? Mine? How was I suppose to know that it only required one man with the right line skills to turn me? It was your father and your families forbitten research what made me a demon in the first place. It was not my free choise. So don't the fuck blame me!" I growled at him, again I felt my awareness touching the line.  
Each time I did this it got easier. Maybe I would be afraid of it, but I was so pissed at Trent that I didn't care.  
Jenks was in the air, dusting yellow with sudden alarm, he was at Ivy's side a moment later. Trent was at the wall again, since he didn't dare to make a dash for the exit, which was occupied by Jenks and Ivy.  
"Answer me." I snarled.

"My dad saved your live and you know that."  
"So and this makes me the punshing bag for your little spoiled elfboy ass, just because you little science experiment was a failure? Take responsibility for what you family did to me!"  
"If I would, you wouldn't be alive anymore!" He screamed.  
"With all knowledge, techs, drugs and power you have, anything that comes to your mind is killing me? You're pathetic, Trent!" I took a step in his direction, not knowing what I would do next.  
"Holy shit she is bleeding darkness." Jenks exclaimed and was at Trents side to whisper something into his ear. Maybe a way to calm me down.  
"Rachel you're drawing a powerful aura there." Said Ivy and looked my straight in the eyes, hers were black again. But something about that familiar darkness made it more easy to hold her gaze.  
The vampires glance shifted to Trent.  
"Hey Kalamack, Rachel said it was genetical. So why don't you take a sample and make her a witch again." It earned her a look from everyone else in the room. Why wasn't this my idea?.

"That's not that easy. Rachel might be to old for threatment, she might get ill and die on it. Byside I don't know if it's possible since she has been tempered with before. And she was a witch-demon-inbetween since her birth, we weren't able to fix this. And if she sleeps with the demon or a witch again it might turn her into a demon again."  
I looked at him and my anger went down a great deal. He never said he would be outright refusing that idea, he wasn't telling me to fuck myself and die. Trent at least thought about it. That was a reason to give brownie points to the elf.  
"If it works, everything with ley line skills is of my buffet. I would not risk that again." I assured, it would left me with vampire, weres and humans. That weren't very lovely prospects, I would miss the power-pull and the merging with the line. But it would be better than moving to the ever after permanently. Trent was thinking.

"You asked me if I would kill you Rachel, I answered with yes, and now you would trust me, an elf, foe of demonkin since over 5000 years to bring you back? Isn't that a bit contradictorily?" Phrased like that it sounded somehow silly even to me.  
"We didn't start our acquaintance as elf and demon, but as witch and suppose to be human. We have our own history Trent, one that is much younger than their war. Only recently demons and elven are messing up everything. You invited me to your last hunt and you told me about me being the hope to end the war. Were this lies?" Jenks and Ivy were watching us like we would be playing tennis.  
"No I meant it, but right than you were a witch with the possibility to have demon-children not a demon yourself."  
"A good friend told me once that a person is defined by his or her doings, not by there kin, and even if I got some wired instincts to learn controll of. Look at Ivy, she is a vampire and she hasn't jumped your bones either. Instincts can be controlled over time."  
He shook his head.

"Hey come on Trent she saved your ass countless times. Might be your turn to do the same, don't you think so?" Jenks was in his Peter Pan pose again and pointed his sword at the elf.  
"I can't say if it will be possible, let me browse through my fathers files about her treatment and ask around a bit. I need to be sure before taking samples of her, I don't want demon genetics at my lab. The coven would be pissed about that and they might kill me. That would leave the elven without their needed medicins and we would meet extinction for real. Do you want that demon?"  
I sighed.  
"First it's Rachel, stop calling me demon. And second, no I don't want that. Why do you thing I went with you into the ever after to get that elven sample from the demon database? Surely not for the fun of it." I grinned at him, he owned me bigtime for saving his ass, and that wouldn't have worked without me being what I'm, ahm... was.

"I will look into the case it's everything that I can promise. I will call as soon as I know." He was about to leave the church.  
"Well this is not going to be this easy," Jenks was flying after him, while Ivy stand beside me and was sniffing my neck. It irritated me bigtime but I pushed that feeling from me.  
"You smell wrong, but the unclaimed bit is still there." I withstand to make a comment, we had that discussion before.

"What is it Jenks?" Trent asked the four inch man.  
"She can't enter hallowed ground anymore, and staying this side of the lines isn't good for her aura, it's like using curses the whole time. I was talking sense into her, that she has to move to the ever after." Ivys eyes flashed black and she glared at the blue dusting pixy.  
"You want her to move there? And how I'm I gonna tell her about this treatment thing. Do you expect me to summon her? Rachel do you still have Al's name?"  
"No I got back my own."  
"She is not moving over!" The vampire screamed byside me. And she swirled around to me, her eyes black and demanding. I avoided to look into them. But her pain was like sandpaper on my mind. I could have been imagine things about her, but I surely had that wired demon-ability to steal ones facile thoughts and feelings. Right at the moment I hated that.  
She put her hands on my shoulder, turning me to face her.  
"Tell me you aren't leaving me!" she demanted aloud this time.

"Ivy!" The pixy exclaimed angry.  
"We were talking about that!" He sounded all like the father he was. My head started to hurt like hell. I growled at them.  
"Stop this that instant, you're fabricating a monster headache. And I clearly don't need it. Save that argument for later!" There was the little alien sound in my voice again. It earned me wired faces of my friends and Trent.  
"I don't want to move over. I don't want to leave you Ivy or anyone else. But byside Jenks arguments, there is still Al to worry about. I thing he's going to press charges on this one. He was trying to get me into the ever after before. Promising me a room of my own, and other things. How great are my chances to get my shunning removed and the coven of my back now that I'm like this? Byside he's going to tell me I belong with the demons, again, and this time I don't have good reasons to refuse. At least no reasons he would accept."  
I clearly wasn't going to tell them about Al's and my bet, they would team up and rip me to sheets. The bet had been, geting the shunning removed and the coven off my back, for his help with my little elfporn-conspiracy. If I would fail it meant moving in with Al. Okay maybe I should have just agreed to owning him a mark, but if I was going to avoid one thing, it was getting more demon-marks on my skin.

Trent was waiting with a little frown on his face.  
"So how do I contact you than?"  
"Ceri knows my name, I'm not giving it to you. Byside I don't like to be summoned, it tend to hurt like hell."  
"That doesn't solve the problem, Rachel." Trent was returning into my direction, leaving sacred ground.  
"There is a way to communicate with the other side of the lines. It's like a mobile phone, only that it's a demoncurse." Everyone was looking worried but they kept silent until I fished out the scrying mirror.  
Jenks landed beside the charmed glass and avoid to touch it.  
"That thing gives me the willies." Strange that this lines have been beautyful to me, from the very beginning. With big caution Trent walked over the line of the etched circle what surrounded the island corner for years, maybe he was afraid I would trap him inside of it.

"You put your fingers here and there," I showed the gestics to him.  
"The mirror needs a simple invocation to tap into the communal magic of the demons. If you have the gesture complete you think my name and willed the contact into existence"  
"I don't have that name, you remember."  
"Do you think I would give that mirror to you if it would require a summoningname? No if you think Rachel, while taping a line, and using the words 'mater tintinnabulum' it's going to be find, at least I hope so. Here try it."  
I pushed it in front of him and he looked at it like it was going to bit his hand off.  
"Trent don't worry, tap a line, think my name, don't think any other demons name and talk to me. It's harmless, it only asks for the demons attention, and not demanding it like a summoning, and a additional bonus is that it tooks almost no smut to run. On either side." I smiled at him, summoning was expensive for the one who had to travel the lines, one of the reasons why you always get pissed demons in your circle.

He looked me over once from feet to head, from head to my feet. He was feeling doubt.  
"Hey Trent, don't you have meetings to appoint to, errands to run, files to browse." The pixy was leaning against Ivy's coffee mug, which said 'Don't bother tired vampires in the morning, before their first cup of coffee unless you offer blood'.  
The young bachlor made a face and put his fingers were they belonged. Instantly getting the gesture right. I felt him drawing at my line, but instead of making me angry like with Pierce it filled me with some sort of joy. I sneezed, everyone but Trent looked at me. I braced myself for the pain of a summoning, even if I knew that the lines were closed to summoning crosstraffic from dawn to dusk. I sneezed again, and again. I longed for the touch of my mirror to answer the call. I sneezed again and than I touched the elfs shoulder, he jumped and flinched from my touch and my mirror.  
"Don't touch me." At least he didn't say anything about me being a demon or being a demons whore, and he left out any other stuff that could hurt my feelings. Thank God for small favors.

I pulled the mirror before me and touched the glyphs, taped the line and checked. It was interesting to get a stored message of Trent's thoughts, the demons had a voice mail system. Who would have thought that. He was showing up with my ID but his signature wasn't matching. I checked.  
'Rachel? Are you sure this is working? I don't think so. This feels strange. Damn you made me use a demons curse. I'm not your familiar Rachel. I want that removed!'  
The message ended, I lifted my fingers from the glass and bathed in the afterglow for a second, the line was pulsing again.  
'He would be a good familiar. Make the bond.' I twiched and banished the very thought. Like hell I didn't wanted a familiar, not Trent and no one else I was my own damn familiar, and I was doing a fine job with that. I ditched the line.

"Rachel did someone tell you, that you are utterly to intimately with that curse things. It's almost like you enjoy it." Trent asked with a bit of worry in his face.  
"Don't be ridiculous Trent, I'm a demons student, I have to learn twisting their curses, there is no helping it. I had to make my peace with this sort of magic. It would get me nowhere to crucify myself each time I use something like that. And no you aren't my familiar, I said so before."  
"Good to know, you have to remove the familiars mark, until the witchs meeting. But for now I will take my leave"  
"Wait Trent, take this with you, I will just make a new one next time I see Al, and I don't think I will have to wait long. Call me if you know what happend to Ceri and her child." His face was almost unreadable, he snatched my mirror and left in a rush. Leaving me with Jenks and Ivy.

"I'm tired as hell, how late is it?" I asked  
"It's a little past 1 pm." Jenks said and Ivy was nowhere to be seen.  
"Where did Ivy go?"  
"Probably planing Al's death, how should I know?"  
"Damn, it's bad, could you make your kids watch her?"  
"Already done so"  
"Jenks, I'm going to sleep a bit and after this I want to eat pizza, together with you and Ivy. If this might be my last day this side of the lines, I want to spend it with my loved ones." I would call over David and the rest but I wanted to avoid them seeing me as a demon. It made me sick to think about the possibility of moving in with Al.  
Jenks buzzed an agreement and I walked back to my couch, again only wearing Al's bedsheet. Damn, I wanted my cloths.  
I lay down and fell asleep almost instantaneous.

* * *

I there Rachel Morgan fans ^^.  
This is the seventh part of the fic.  
Trent is pissed, but he got a hold on his temper. Is he going to use Rachels gift as he was told?

What about Ceri and her daughter?  
When is Al going to be back in the story, and what will he do? Somehow I can't imagine him being happy about Trent and Rachels plan.

Well see what happens next ^^.


	8. Bad orders

**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series.__  
This is part eight of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas: ** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / Terence / Al  
**Summary:** Rachel awakens after her sleep and is hungry. Jenks orders pizza for Rachel and Ivy. Ivy comes back and is refusing to talk to anyone. Rachel of course is not taking this silent, and so she bothers the vampire. But this might not be such a good idea.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens VIII : _Bad orders_**

I had been dreaming something, but it was forgotten the moment I opened my eyes.  
The sun was shining, and it was warm. Later summer will do things like this to you.  
My eyes tracked the rays of sunlight, which were falling through the multicolored windows of my church. The backrest of the sofa protected me from direct contact with it. Maybe it was time to check if I would burn in daylight.  
I always thought that undead vampires must be afraid of sunlight, since it was able to kill them. I on the other hand wasn't feeling something unusually, so to test my theory I extended my arm and looked at the arms skin.

It wasn't hurting, no turning red or even black, no burning, it felt completely normal. With a sigh of relieve I sat up, enjoying the full blasts of sun on my face.  
I collected the red silk around my body and got my feet under me, walking in direction of the kitchen to make some coffee. I noted that nothing was hurting anymore. The rasping on my aura was still present, but I needed to direct attention to the feeling to be aware of it. This was a fact that made me worry bigtime, was the polution of my soul already this advanced, that this little amount of smut was nothing notable anymore?  
I got the coffeemaker to work and walked out the backdoor to my garden.

The air was fresh, and the garden was bright with the eveningsun, pixy-voices filled the space with joy. It was amazed how fast their psychological healing after Matalinas death was taking place. I was a lot slower than them.  
My eyes catched Jenks tiny figure and he was coming for me. While I sat down on the grass he landed on my shoulder.  
"Hi Rache, have you slept well?"  
"Dreamed something, but I can't remember anything. Is Ivy back?"  
"No, not as far as I know", he said.  
"I'm making coffee, could you make the pizzacall, I can't do it myself because the phone is on sacred ground and my cell is probably with Al. It suck to be one of them."  
"No sweat, what do you want?"  
"Pizza with salamie, no oniens, no garlic. And lots of tomatos. And if you can get a hold on star bucks get me one of this delicious coffees. The italian one with the cinnamon and raspberry, the one Al ordered as we were hunting Mia."

He nodded and flied into the house. I closed my eyes and relished in the moment of utter peace, God knows they were rarely enough. I was taking in clean breaths of air, no a hint of ever after tainting it. I smelled the trees and the grass, heard the birds singing, another thing what I would be missing if I move over.  
Jenks came back and landed on my shoulder.  
"Bucks not going to deliver coffee here, but the pizza is coming over. I ordered one with tuna for Ivy."  
"Thanks Jenks. Your garden is beautyful."  
"Hey Rache, you sound so down, don't be. It will not be the last time seeing it. Promise."  
"Mh, demons need an invitation for jumping realities and I can't do that on my own."  
"You're sitting in bright daylight redhead, I'm sure you will learn it quick, and that you will be able to do it without an invitation as well."

"Maybe, I hope so. Jenks how am I gonna tell my mother?" Images of them her drifted through my mind.  
"Fairy crap on toast, she is your mother, you shouldn't keep this one quiet, she will worry herself sick."  
"Well, and you think she isn't going to afraid about my being bound to a demon and living in the ever after. It will drive her even more insane."  
"I know you want to protect your mother and this is honorable, but she will hear about it anyway. And if not from your foul mouth, it will break her heart." The pixy father was right, and I damn well knew it. But how to break this news to mum slow and warily.  
I heard the doorbell ringing.  
"I get that one, it might be the pizza"

Without answering my question he was gone. Damn even if I wanted to call my mother, how should I, no phone for the stranded demon there. And I didn't dare to go to my neighbors to borrow one. They knew I was shunned, so they wouldn't even help me as a witch. With that eyes and scent, they would panic and call the I.S. or they would try to trap me in a circle to bannish me to the ever after. But the worst of it was, that the coven would know as well, and my only ticket back to my life would fly out the window.  
Trents little genetic factory was my only hope so far, ironic a few years back I tried to get him arrested for it, more than once.  
The covens earing was in almost 5 months, not a chance to get back my witchgenetics in time. Not even with the most modern help of Trents laboratory, maybe Al would now a curse, or even Newt. Was I desperated enough to ask for the insane demons help, hell yes, I was.

I listend to the pixy chating to the pizzaboy. He must have been an inderlander, since humans would refuse to deliver anything with tomatos in or on it.  
"Hey you're the first pixy to order pizza via phone, Jenks. That makes 20 bucks"  
It was quiet for seconds and Jenks was back with the money, he had probably taken it from the sinks cookiejar. It was Ivys and my savings for hard days, but from the looks of it, I wouldn't need it anyway.  
"Thanks, hey isn't this the house of the nacked witch? The one with the vampire? Cool, I wanted to meet her since her broadcast, what a stunt." That guy sounded like he was 16 or something.  
"She is out, sorry."  
"Well and who is going to eat the pizza? You and your family? Aren't pixies vegetarians?"  
"Most of the time yes. But boy, you got your money, so it's none of your business anymore what we do with the pizzas. For all you care I could use it as wallpapers or carpet. So take the payment and go on your way, before you get yourself sacked. College is expensive this days."

I could imagine the huge eyes of the innocent little inderlander, been lectured by a 4 inch man with wings, looking as old as him. It must have been a first for him. Well, I was used to it by now and I had to peek at the scene. The boy had hazelnut brown hair almost to his shoulders, full of curls, his skin was brown from the summersun. From my position behind the closed door to the garden he looked like he was a few inchs shorter than me.  
"But... but," he tried to protest, but Jenks clearly wasn't impressed by the unsure complain. The man has fourty-something children.  
"No buts Terence, losing your job because of curiosity is not an option. Call us if you want a appointment, but I'm pretty sure the girls will refuse to meet you. Rachel might even kick your but for jerking off on her broadcast."  
The boy was turning red, as was I. Damn it.  
"But I haven't ..."  
"Sure you haven't." Jenks was laughing his ass of middle air.

Damn the pixyman, I wanted to smash him one, but even if I could be fast enough to get him, he was to small for a good beating. And I wasn't angry enough to risk his life.  
I felt the growl build inside my throat and was able to stop the noice in time.  
"This is not funny." Terence lifted the money and ran out of the church, even leaving the door open. I got back into my kitchen, drawn by the smell of coffee and pizza.  
"The boy was right." I opened the carbinet and unhinged my favorite coffee mug, while piercing Jenks with my eyes.  
My mother had sent the mug about half a week ago, it had a witch on a broomstick on it, she was flying over a crecent moon. Maybe my mum, as the excellent earth-witch she was, knew that my shape shifting charm had its orgins in a demons curse, and was now reminding me that I was a witch, or that she will always see me as one.

I loved my mum, and it saddens me that she was so wrong. I poured in the coffee and added some cinnamon and a bit of raspberry, but even with that effort it didn't taste the same as star bucks coffee.  
"Jerking off to my pic on TV? Did the boy tell you that?" I was angry even now.  
"No, he wasn't, but the way he talked about you, made me take a good guess." He grinned.  
"Not funny, what about the honey?" I opened another cupboard and seized the little glass of pricey honey, I got the cap off and put it on the island corner. Jenks landed near it, and thankful he dropped the topic of that teens sexuality.  
"Don't you think we should wait for Ivy?"  
My eyes drifted over the kitchen, all the little remains of my fight with Pierce and Ceri had vanished. Seemed like Ivy had been busying herself with cleaning up my messes.  
"She cleared out the garbage, didn't she."  
"You should have seen her, never seen her this helpless and lonely. I don't think she is up for your relocation." I kept my silence, since there was nothing for me left to say. Hell I wasn't up to it either, who would blame Ivy.

I grabed the pizza and shook my head.  
"No waiting for her, haven't eaten for almost 24 hours, and I'm hungry."  
The door to church closed and someone walked in our direction, Jenks was checking while I was hiding with my pizza behind the island corner. If this was the little boy again, I was going to kick his ass.  
"Ivy is back," Jenks said and it sounded worried. I was on my feet faster than ever.  
"Ivy." Her eyes where redden, at least where they were suppose to be white, and the brown of her eyes was really thin.

She made a commentless grab for her tuna-pizza and sat down next to her computer. Almost as if Jenks and I were non-existent.  
"Well, fine, we're playing silent war now." I got my pizza from the floor and stuffed one slice of it into my mouth.  
"It might be my last evening this side of the lines and the silly vampire is making me play silent war." Frustration high in my voice, and if I wasn't holding them back with all force I would be crying again. I would so not play this now.

Jenks had no comment for my outburst, maybe he knew the best I could hope for was making Ivy flee the room. I ate a new slice, but the taste wasn't good anymore.  
"Great, I have food what's not tasting like burnt amber and you ruined it. I wanted to enjoy myself with the both of you." The next piece was following. Three down, five to go. Ivy wasn't even looking at me, while she had only downed her first slice of pizza.  
"Do you really think that problem is going to go away by ignoring it. That might work with a lot of things, but believe me. Demons aren't one of them." And that I had to learn the hard way.  
"Yeah like you ever tried to leave them alone. Always playing with Al, attracting his attention. And Rachel, are you refering to yourself when you say demons aren't going to go away on their own." At least she broke the silent, the way she said it made me almost choke on my bite.

I coughed and with the help of to hot coffee I got my throat free again. My mouth was burning and my mood was soured.  
"What do you mean, always attracting his attention. Do you think I had a plate on me which said, 'I'm Rachel Marianna Morgan, please send a demon to kill me'. I never chosed to be born with the Rosewood Syndrom, it wasn't my fault to get threatments by the Kalamacks and that I survived it. If it weren't for my dad and Trents father I would have never attracted Piscary's attention, and he wouldn't have send Al to kill me. Everything afterwards just happend."  
"Yes you're as always the little choirboy. If you would be able to be a bit less tensed about your 'Rachel isn't killing people' policy, you would have chosen to kill Piscary instead of playing demon familiar for Al's testimony in the courts. And if you would have let Trent rot in the ever after you wouldn't be the demons student."

"Oh now it's my fault because I don't chose the easy way out. Killing other people is not the solution."  
"Isn't it? If you would have killed Piscary, Kisten might have been still alive!" Oh this was just to low. I had downed my fourth slice, and growled at her. I knew the line was feeling me, again it was unbidden, but nevertheless welcome. Jenks was pretty drunken on honey his flight was uneven at best, but he was between both of us.  
"Chill out, girls. That will leeea... leaad to nothiiing."  
"If I would have killed Piscary, the cities powerbalance would have flied out of the window and mabye the whole camarilla would have perished. And you damn well know it." I screamed at her, I ignored Jenks and I felt my eyes glow a hazard green.

Ivy was out of her chair in a split of a second she threw the rest of the pizza off the table and hissed at me, her eyes black pools.  
"I have been at Cormel's, he said he wants you. He will not let you go to the ever after. He ordered me to bound you."  
She screamed and was slowly stalking over to me.  
I gluped at this, Rynn Cormel master vampire of Cincinatti and president of america during the turn, wanted me to be Ivys shadow. It striked one of my deepest fears inside of me.  
The line fell from me and I was suddenly normal again. I trusted Ivy like no one else but Jenks and here she was, with a direct order from her master. She couldn't be in his carmilla and disobey him. But living and undead vampires weren't able to last long without a family to protect them.

I knew that if she would let me go unbound she was death twice, if she bound me I would be a mindless shadow.  
"I can make you my scion. Say yes, Rachel, please, I love you to much to make you a simple shadow."  
Scion to a vampire was like familiar to a witch, while the familiar took all the smut from the witches spells, a scion was the daylight hands and eyes of his or her master, a source of blood and the anchor of their sanity if they lose their soul after their first deaths, a post of honor.  
But I had said no at least twice and I would say no thrice.  
"I can't and you know it." I said. Jenks sweared something about eating honey, if he should have known us and seen this one coming.

A blink of an eye later Ivy was by my side, she kicked me in the stomach, and all the air left me. She snatched my wrists. I growled, instinct driven I tapped the line out back, ready to throw her into a wall, but suddenly all the trusted strength left me.  
I needed seconds to check what has been happening to me, a zipstrip of charmed silver rested on my skin. Ivy traped me against the table, unbidden images of Al doing the same swelled up in my mind.  
"No, you wouldn't dare." The alien voice was back and I tried to smack my hand in her face.  
But I was to slow, even the boosted speed of my new demon DNA wasn't up to a living vampires. She grabed my face and hold it still.  
"Rachel I don't have a choise. Please, I'm sorry."

Her fingers caress my old demon-vampire mark. The one I got the day I met Al, since he was the one who gave it to me. The vampire pheromones were kicking in, like always. Nice to know something stayed normal while everything else seemed to be chancing right underneath my ass, but why of all the things in the two worlds had it to be this?  
I fought the moan which was building up.  
"I can smell your desire, remember the last time I drank from you." And I did, it wasn't a bad feeling, to be true I loved it, until the fear of ending as someones shadow hit me hard. That fear was able to take away all the pleasure, and she liked my necks skin.  
I attacked her face and was able to draw blood before she hit me hard.  
"Don't make it this hard for us," she hissed.

"Hard for us, my ass. It's nice to know that you can take what you wanted for so long, without being the guilt one. Isn't it." I growled back, while I spate my blood to the side. She liked my cracked lip, which torn a moan from her throat. I tried to kick her and she pinned me to the island corner.  
"Oh no, you escaped for to long and you know good enough how fear affects us."  
I could feel her desire in my veins, but something about this was so wrong. She was the only woman what I loved more than a friend or my mother, but this was so not happening. I was straight after all, and I was my own damn person. Despise all demons, vampires, witches and humans, it would stay this way.  
"Ivy if you dare to bind me you'll get your wish, the easy way out, because I will kill you. Twice." I growled at her. And to hell with it, my instincts were taking over even without a line answering my call

Her black eyes were sad now, I saw that much, but I wasn't caring any more.  
"Get that strips of, get your hands off of me and eat you damn pizza and you will live to see the next sunrise." I promised, and even swearing to myself that I was my own person I felt something else taking over, it filled my with a burning behind all good and evil. A longing for pain and destruction, damn it was like facing an angry demon, only that I would never be able to run from this one. No holy ground could protect me from myself.  
Ivy was taken aback half a step by my alien voice. It was absolutly clear that she didn't knew what to do with me. Her eyes almost turnt back do normal.  
"It does not make a difference anymore, if you kill me or not. If I let you go Rynn is going to finish me off. He made that much clear." A single tear ran down her left cheek, it fascinated me.

"With your hands in silver, you're unable to use ley line energy. So I will not free you until I'm done." She lifted my face and collected her lips to my neck. Her desire was down, there was sadness and loneliness and pain, and an absolut dispair I never sensed before. Damn demon ability.  
"No, Ivy!" I heard Jenks cry. The next thing I was aware of was my own scream as her teeth sank beyond my skin.  
I felt her draw my blood into her mouth, tasting it, sucking it. She was falling into her desire again, and this time I couldn't refuse the pull, the pheromones were taking me with her.  
A black darkness filled me interrupted by dark blue stripes, I felt like I had no own weight anymore. I sensed a foreigne touch on my soul, it was cold and at the same time hot and loaded with desire. It would have been so easy to say no if it had been pure sexual, but it was more a desire for love than anything else. I was about to give in to Ivys despair alone to heal that destroyed part of her. But another shot ran through me torn at my very core and a picture drifted through me. It was Al's face and his golden aura inside of me. The blue withdraw slowly, while the gold was filling me with fire.

Ivy was accusing me with her feelings of betrayal but his presence was ubiquitous and swirled trough both of us.  
'Rachel, ... speak my name'  
The demon said offering me his very being right that second. I recognized the part of him what was mine and right that second his name fell from my lips.

"Algaliarept, I summon you," I was slamed back into my body, the weight came back in half a second and the black haze left my vision. A searing pain burnt inside of me, it was still daylight even if it wasn't long until dusk.  
"NO!" Ivy cried and recoiled with a scream of pure agony, which was utterly psychical. She knew I was bound to Al.  
"You slut, you gave yourself to HIM! HIM OF ALL PEOPLE! TRAITOR!" She screamed and grabed the knife block of the island corner, probably to smash my head in. The burning got more intensive. I knew summoning wasn't working until the sun was beyond the horizon, another 5 minutes to survive, but if Ivy wasn't about to kill me now that pain would finish it probably before Al could come to the rescue.

* * *

Hi there Rachel Morgan fans. Ivy lost her restrain, after Rachel doesn't take her silence well, so she bothers her until she snaps. She has a really good reason. After Rachel got to sleep, Ivy cleaned the kitchen mess up and after that she went crying to Rynn, but this wasn't a good idea at all. The master vampire gives an order, and Ivy has to obey. How will Rachel react, what is she going to do. And will Rachel survive this? Is Al finallly entering the story again, and is he going to be pissed?


	9. Jealousy and death

**A demoness awakens IX**

**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part nine of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas: ** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / Al  
**Summary:** Rachel has summoned Al to save her from a jealous Ivy. But the sun wouldn't go down for another 5 minutes, so Al has to turn a bit creative to answer his summons. It has an interesting effect. _Beware of the title to this part. _

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens IX: _Jealousy and death_**

The pain got worse, and Ivy was byside me, with the block in her hand. She raised her arm, her eyes full and black, filled with tears. In this moment I understood what was going through her head and heart. How this fucked up situation must look like from her point of view.  
Time seemed to freeze and everything slowed down to this cristal-clear vision where time lost its meaning. The pain dimed down, maybe because of this strange velocity in times flux.  
Her arm came down, and it slowed further, something seemed to coat my thoughts and without thinking I raised my own hand in defense, the one with the charmed silver on it.  
And against all hope I was able to block the attack.

A living vampires speed against me? What was happening now? This shouldn't be possible, witches were a lot less fast than vampires, even the living ones.  
'But demons aren't'. A voice answered my unasked question.  
What the hell. Ivy was trapped inside her instincts, not getting that this would mean trouble for her. She leaned in for the next attack, this time it was her fist and she aimed for my face.  
I sensed a big thread of fury whelm up inside of me, and I let go a growl of darkness.  
She beat down and I pulled at her still trapped arm, she lost her balance and missed my face, hitting the stone to the left, leaving a dent in the surface, little splinters were flying everywhere.  
Strange bloody pictures filled my mind, most of them were pictures of a dead Ivy with no head and heart. Satisfaction flowed through my as I saw those pictures, another part of me was taken aback in horror.  
'As you wish', came the demons words to me.

Right that second I knew this pictures would come true soon, my body was readying itself for the counter-attack. Fuck, no! All satisfaction left me and pure terror took its place, it was like a bucket of icewater in a sleepings face.  
'NO, I don't want THAT!', I screamed with very ounce of strength, while creating another picture of Ivy hustled back from me.  
The strange thoughts, which weren't my own, aligned themself anew. And instead of dealing the killing-blow, I just pushed the vampireness off of me. The force behind that shove was nevertheless breathtaking. Ivy flew back a few meters and dashed against the kitchen cupboard, going down slow. I sensed the muscles in the back of my spine tensing, readying for the next attack.  
'No don't hurt her, this is all my fault anyway. Trap her, make her unable to hurt me or herself and give her time to fight her instincts down. She just lost it', I blocked the thoughts of whom I might be speaking to, this was just a few levels too crazy for me.

But I could worry about my own psychic problems after Ivy was out of mortal danger. Confusion ran through the others thoughts, but I sensed no argument coming my way.  
Ivy was down on the floor, while I sat up straight, a flying man with black wings got into my face. A thought of knocking him aside came to the front of my head.  
'Jenks, this is Jenks, don't hurt him ... either', the pixy was talking but the sound was lost to me.  
The other me got to her feet and ignored Jenks, thanks to my intervention, but I should have known the pixyman wouldn't like to be ignored.  
Instead of leaving us alone he put his sword right before my eye and buzzed a warning with his wings. Annoyance swirled through my awareness, and it wasn't my own. Jenks was just trying to protect Ivy and restrain his two business partners from killing each other.

Ivys head raised slowly, her eyes were as black as before, and her will to kill wasn't much lessen either.  
"Move it, Jenks. She is getting up!", my voice was filling my ears, but I never intended to utter those words. The pixy buzzed a second warning and made his threat a bit more urgent by putting his sword to my nose.  
"I mean it Rachel, you TWO will come down NOW!", he sounded hopelessed pissed.  
The vampire was shaking her head and was steady standing up.  
"Tell the vampire. I have been forbitten to kill her already, now get out of the way before she goes for Rachels heart"  
That words sent a shudder of recognition through me, I knew the thoughts invading my own.  
Al, it was Al, but why was I sharing my body with that demon.  
'You invited me in, and this is better asked later. Brace yourself'

The pixy flied back a few steps, a bit unsure how to parse this. Ivy on the other hand wasn't bothered by such a trivial thing as words, she was at my throat in an eyes blink.  
I hit the bookshelves under the islandcorner hard, which clouded my vision with strips of black. Nausea came the moment her fingers enclosed my neck. The impact had already taken all the air out of my lungs, so her action proved to be very effective. Jenks was threating Ivy now, but the vampire was not giving a fairy fart.  
I was desperately gasping for air, and I felt like I would lose consciousness soon, which would leave me for death.  
'So what should I do, milady?' Came the mocking question of his bastardness.  
Great, I wasn't just out of breath, possessed and about to be killed by my best friend, no I was also fresh out of ideas.  
Not doing anything would end with me dead, letting Al roam free would end with Ivy dead, non of this sounded anywhere near acceptable.

Suddenly all strength left Ivys fingers and she slumped down into my lap, it took a few seconds to relearn how to breath, my throat was sore.  
My vision cleared one bit at a time and my eyes catched Jenks standing middle-air with his wings a black blur of motion, four of his children beside him.  
Each one of them were holding a pixysword in alarm, Jenks himself hold a little red ball.  
Ironical it was a paintball full of my sleeptime potion, at least now I knew that Ivy would be ok the second she was doused in saltwater to nullify my earth charm.  
"Rachel." The man said in warning as my eyes drifted to the downed vampire.  
'Al it would be a great help if you could give me back my body, like right now!'  
Call me paranoid but I trusted the demon to make the pixy down me as well. I could imagine his look of fury on my face just fine, since he had taken my form more than once.  
The sun touched down, the kitchen trapped in twilight and the strange thoughts untangled from mine, leaving me alone with my pain.

I tried to talk, but only a hoarse whisper left me. Two tries later and I got a word out of me which actually made sense.  
"Jenks... thank... you." I said. The pixy was eying me over and obviously not trusting me yet.  
While I was agonizing my mind about how to pacify the pissed pixy, I felt a drop in the line and knew instantaneous what was the cause of it.  
"Al is coming...over", I tried to warn the five warriors in my kitchen, so no one would overreact. The stink of burnt amber rose and red ever after released my demon. His hair was mussy, he had left his green fork coat behind and his white lace was hanging on him untidily. His smoked glasses and gloves were missing as well. What had happend to Al?  
"What by 20 fairies on an elvens-wedding are you doing her demon."  
"How about answering a summons, wingboy. How about saving Rachel's ass. How about stoping the vamp lady from killing my mate."

"What by the pink wings of tink on a fairy crapcake have you done to Rachel!" Shrieked the pixy. That managed to amplify my begining headache.  
Al refrained from answering Jenks question and was byside me in a second. His fingers were trembling as he reached for my face, I looked him in the eyes but nevertheless I twiched back from his touch. His lips formed a snarl but it was never uttered, frustration seeped through him in waves. The goat-slitted demoneyes going for Ivy instead, his hand likewise. Worry sliped through my mind, I could remember the pictures of his mind like a bad aftertaste.  
"This wasn't my imagination, this was your inner demons wish." He said with a deadly quietness in his voice and before I could do anything he lifted Ivy of the ground.  
"Bring calk and a bowl of saltwater, student." It was even more composed than before, I got the feeling he was hidding behind that behavior, but it made me growl at him.  
I rose to my feet following the demon, not trusting his balance. The four children of Jenks were following him as well, but their father was right next to me.  
"Explain," he demanded.

"It ... seems like he was possessing me, like he was possessing Lee once. No I don't know how this was possible and it hurt!" I reached the second living room with the couch I had been sleeping on.  
Al saw me coming and raised to his feet.  
"The bowl..." his voice sounded at his most displeasing. I was standing dumbfold in his way as he went for my kitchen, not bothering to notice me. He digged through my closets, fishing out salt and jerked my dissolution pot from the bookcase, jamming it into the sink and filling it with water.  
"Mh... Al is different. And he acts like he belongs here. I don't like it." Jenks landed on my shoulder slowly putting away his sword.  
"He... is pissed." I threw a good guessed in the room.  
"Everything what belongs to my mate is mine, and anything of mine is hers, so it's my right to make the dissolution pot myself. And not pissed but disappointed, but Rachel will learn with time." His eyes found mine at his last statment and it was like something in me was struck by those red goat-slitted mirrors of his soul, a surge of anticipation went through me. I gulped and tried to disband the awakened desire to jump his bones.

"What the hell, Rachel, you smell like lust and burnt amber"  
"Jenks, shut the fuck up." Al lifted the pot and was coming for me, to boost my embarrassment I turned bright red, as red as my hair. The demon was aware of the reason why I reacted like that, a smirk of male pride decorated his face. He almost caused a collision between us and it must have been on purpose, because his scent hit me hard, made it almost impossible to dimish my longings. Fucking demon.  
"The calk, student, unless you want me in a circle with your little vampire." He said all sweet and innocent, even cheerful, I could have punched his face in for that alone.  
It needed a whistle of Jenks wings to snap me out of that strange spell. I turned to the kitchen while Jenks and me said "Shit" in unison.

I heard a splash of water.  
"Couldn't you wait. you damn demon!" I screamed while I was runing for the future to be crime scene with the calk in my fingers.  
Ivy was wet, as well as the sofa and the parquet floor underneath, she was awake and hissing at the sudden wetness.  
"Jenks could you make a circle please." I whispered and tried to reach both of them before they were going for each others throats.  
The man saluted and took the calk, after this he was in the air.  
"Ivy!" I screamed but I knew it was to late, because she had seen the grining demon named Algaliarept first.

"You stolen her you bastard, Rachel was suppose to be mine."  
"She was never destined to be yours, vamp"  
And like Piscary before she went for Al's throat, while here knee collected with his lower half. Ouch, that must have hurt and apparently the demon shared my opinion because he went misty. Reformed himself and was... Piscary.  
"Al, are you stupid?" I collected my palm to my forehead.  
Piscary, former vampire master of Cincinatti, he had bloodraped Ivy to make her his scion, it was done against her will. Piscary also tried to kill me more than once, he even sent Al after me a few times. Thanks to some lucky incident he was dead and I was still among the living.

Ivy growled at him, and her anger was mixing with fear.  
"I hate you!" She took the floor lamp, which was a gift from my greatmother and tried to smash the undead vampires face. Al evaded the attack with ease and taunted her even more with a lick over his now sharp vampire teeths, he even did the eyes this time.  
"Oh my little feisty scion, if you wanted my attention all you had to do was ask." He drawled hitting the dead vampires accent perfect. Damn even his scent was all ancient vampire now, if I hadn't known better I would have sworn my ass, that this was Piscary in my living-room.  
"This is going south fast." Jenks reappeared at my shoulder.  
"The circle is done, what to do now?" Ivy had mastered a chain attack of three, but none of the smashes landed, okay the coffeetable was history, but the demon was still standing eight feet away from Ivy. A typical vampires fighting distance. He was emulating Piscary a bit too much even for my taste and that everyone seemed to love destroying my things wasn't helping to smooth my mood.

"I have got enough." I dropped to my knees, willing my mind to take the line in and clapped my hand on the calk.  
"Rhombus!" Nothing happend. "Damn silver." My eyes aligned on the small zip-stripe, a dark growl left my lips.  
"Stop fighting and STOP DESTROYING MY THINGS!", against better knowledge I jumped both of them. I got right in between both attacks and was thrown over the couch and landed hard on my ass. No one but Jenks seemed to mind.  
"Are you insane you can't best a vampire and a demon, and absolutly not at the same time."  
The pixy said.  
"They will kill each other... damn silver... damn silver." Tears were falling from my eyes, Ivy would lose the fight and Al would kill her. I couldn't let them do this, I had to interfer. But sleep time potions were out of the equation because Ivy was still doused in saltwater, and I didn't wanted Al death either.

I ducked at the silver stripe with anger and frustration, almost getting hit by flying parts of furniture. I growled, earth magic was out of options, fighting hand to hand as well and line arts weren't working with that silver on my arm, so it needed to be off. My thumb was in the way. I had seen a action flick about that problem before and maybe breaking my thumb would get me out of those chains.  
"Oh, oh no... Rachel don't." Jenks surely had seen this thought evolve in my mind, but he was saying it to late because I already hold my hand in Ivys lamp attack. It hit and I felt the snap right to my core, nausea followed in an instand, the pain would hit later if I was lucky. This time I ducked violent at the silver, trying to get rid of it, but it wasn't working.  
Damn it all back to the turn, and then the pain hit, I screamed and got almost one of Al's black spells into my face. He had changed back to himself, but obvious I had missed the moment.

His face was twisted in pain and searching for me, he took in my hurting hand and disgust rolled off of him. I heard a crack and saw a piece of wood stick out of my demons chest, right were the heart would have been. I sensed the pain in a sudden rush and my broken hand dimmed down to a mild dull in comparement with my chest. My vision went gray and Ivy gave a cry of triumph, but everything what I could think of was Al.  
The vampire extracted the now bloodied wood from his chest, the demon dropped to the floor, liveless. Panic swelled up inside of me, this wasn't possible, that couldn't be. He was a damn demon, not a witch, not a vampire, he was a demon, superior to all other beings.  
One of us, and mine. It was my right to kill him. My right alone, how could she. Fury took me in and my vision went red, it centered on Ivy, while she tilted her head in my direction.  
Her eyes there still black but she looked more in controll now.  
"Rachel your eyes are black" She said and uneasyness sprout in her, I got to my feet grabed the silver stripe and pulled, this time the pain didn't mattered anymore. I was about to suffer the worst pain one could experience, the death of a mate.

"Stop it!" She screamed, dropping her bloodied weapon to the floor, robing herself of the only thing that might be able to save her. Her face went ashed as I sensed the skin of my thumb give way and the silver bracelet finally came off, turning liquid the moment it wasn't encircling one of my limbs anymore. The line exploded inside me, a searing white pain took the place of Al's pierced heart, and I welcomed it with with my whole being.  
Jenks came to a halt next to Ivy.  
"It looks like you're dead twice Ivy, grab the wood and attack before she has time to utter a spell." He was dusting white and black at the same time, strange, I had never seen this one, but it was not important, the silly vampire wasn't taking us serious.  
"The little man is right, you dared to take what's mine. I will ripe you apart, your soul is mine, and I will stuff it back into your twice dead body so you will rot while bearing witness to it." I snarled and darkness overflowed the rooms, only leaving the sacred ground untouched.

hr

This is not going to be the end.  
Is Rachel finally killing someone, is she going to end up as crazy as Newt, or even more crazy?  
What about the party, what about Newt, what about the other demons.

See how this turns out in my next part of my fanfic.


	10. A seers power

**A demoness awakens X**

**Disclaim:** _The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part ten of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas: ** Rachel / Ivy / Al / Dali  
**Summary:** Al had been killed by Ivy and Rachel is out for her blood. She has lost herself to her inner demoness which wasn't taking the dead of her mate very well. We're going to see the kill from Al's point off view, and Dali is in for the story too.

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens X: _A seers power_**

"Rachel... ." The black haired woman was slowly begining to fell into panic.  
"She freed you of that demon!" The pixy exclaimed.  
"I didn't wanted to be free of him or I would have killed him on my own. I don't need a vampires help for it."  
I draw more and more of the line into me, filling every cell with it. Ivy took a step back and draw my attention back to her. She was not going to run away from my wrath, I threw a ball of ever after right into her middle. She was lifted off the ground and sent back into the kitchen, missing the cupboard at arms lenght, this had to be at least 6 meters.  
I grinned like the devil turned flesh.

The pixy got into my face and tried to reason with me, but this was the last thing I wanted to do now.  
"She killed my mate, she killed what was mine, she dared to lay hands on me. It's not your fault, so don't stand between me and my prey. Get your family and bring as much distance between them and me as you can." I said in a voice what might be able to freeze hell over or melt sand. I was focusing on him, and he flew back a few feet suddenly dusting in a worried yellow.  
"Hell Rachel dim your aura, this is freaking uncomfortable." Ivy was getting to her feet.  
"Fight me if you dare to." I liked my lips and sent a new impulse her way, she rolled to the side and the wall got blasted into the garden. Jenks cried in worry and was gone for his kids, making sure no one was killed. Somehow I didn't cared, I wanted reparations.  
Ivy vanished behind the island corner.  
"Rachel come back to yourself."  
"Back to myself? Funny little vampireness, you destroyed that. I let the witchlife interfere with my demonlife, and now look at Algaliarept. See what my weak heart has done to him."  
Hatred seemed to be seeping from my lips, hatred for Ivy, and hatred for myself.  
"He is the demon who almost killed you, a lot of times."

"So what's the problem, you almost killed me before, remember Kistens van?" I licked my lips as her pain ran trough my mind and left a good taste there. It was the incident I allowed her to drink my blood for the first time, she was confusing blood with lust, and as she wanted to have sex with me I said no, she vamped on me and almost drained me dry.  
I felt a drop in the line and a displacement of air, someone jumped into my church. I didn't even blink.  
It could have been Pierce or some nasty little demon, it was without importance. Beyond caring I would make sure no one interrupted me, I pointed my finger at Ivy, and draw a quatrant: "duae mundis coires me et mea sacre sumum!"  
I willed the lines energy to follow my gesture, etching a whole circle into the ground, big enough for me and Ivy with both of us right at the ends.  
I touched my big toe to the new circle and said: "Rhombus!"

Black ever after surrounded us. I knew there were gas pipes and power supplies crossing the circle, it would not hold a demon.  
Neither in nor out, I was pretty sure even Pierce could break the circle, but it was an explicit sign not to interfere. Maybe it would be broad enough to make even a demon wait for my attention, rather than barging in.  
Ivy got serious all of a sudden.  
"What the hell are you doing?"  
"Making sure this is a one on one my dear Ivy Alisha Tamwood." I hissed almost pleasant.  
She lost even more color and grabed my splat gun and raised it to my face. My lips formed a snarl.  
"Idiot!" The vampire squeezed the trigger. I evaded down to the floor and collected ley line energy around me, darkness seemed to rose from my skin. It would not protect me against the sleep time potions, but it would mess up Ivys aim.

**- Al -**  
A snap of bone catched my attention. It wasn't mine, and it wasn't Ivys either. The little mans bones were to fine to make that much of a sound.  
I evaded Ivys sloppy attack for the uptenthed time, playing her hard with the face of her former master on me. Her fear and fury tasted so good I wanted to play with her more, much more.  
I sensed a dull pain in my hand, and this was the second were the game wasn't funny anymore, because this was not my own pain and the only person which emotions, thoughts and senses were influencing me this much were Rachel's, my mate's.  
What had the vampire done to her, I changes back to myself, threw a black charm at Ivy that almost hit Rachel, my eyes locked with hers and worry seeped through me.

I took at her broken hand, her almost ruined thumb.  
'Idiot, excuse for a student.' She would need that to do line work, I was neither planing on giving her two months off her studies, nor taking her to a hospital. Letting human or even worse, witch doctors messing with my mate was not on my todo list. She would have to take a demoncurse to cure herself.  
Surely it would be a bitch to make her, I knew how she was then it came to using one of those little handy things. Why was she collecting darkness on her soul to save her friends, but not for her own benefit was beyond me.  
Rachel was always whinging about the higher arts of twisting demon curses, but now she was in for some serious studies. The worlds would collide before I would allow other demons to make my mate into an item of tattle.

If she had been to my kitchen more than once a week, I could have teached her the curse to get rid of charmed silver. Leaving her this defenceless in daylight hours where I couldn't reach her without the propper curse to travel the lines while the sun was up, wasn't suiting me well. And that damn curse was EXPENSIVE. It made me feel helpless, and I hated that.  
Annoyance and disgusted flowed through me as I thought about the direction in which my mind was running, Algaliarept the great demon of old was turning into a pussy-wiped idiot.

I heard the crack of wood behind me, damn it, I had forgotten all about the living vampire. Not only pussy-wiped but also turning sloppy! I was embarrassed by myself. I reached for the line, since I knew I would be to slow to evade whatever was coming my way.  
Pain erupted inside my chest, I lost the focus on the line. The pain got worse and stoped almost right away, I knew I had been dealed a fatal wound.  
'Great, just fucking great, Al, you demon stultissimus'  
Killed by a freaking living vampire, what was next, turning myself into a pond of phlegm while using a standard shifting curse?  
I droped to the floor, while my vision was slowly zooming to a single point surrounded by darkness. A pulse of line surged through me and was answered with a slight purring.  
Now everything what was left for me to do, was waiting, waiting until the resurrection curse was triggered.

**- Dali -**  
I was sitting on a bench in my conservatory watching my makeshift moon turning full in his circle. But as usually it wasn't the same as the real moon. I missed him, as well as the sun and the stars. Astrology just wasn't the same anymore. Today was Sunday, my day off, so no one was bothering me, which made my almost cheerful. At least no idiots brawling about some nonsense.  
Yesterday I received a public announcement about Newt and a big party at the sealed palace. I hadn't been in the palace for ages and I wasn't sure if I ever wanted to enter that place again. It was still a sore point on my pride, good thing that Newt didn't remember it anymore and none of the other demons were involved enough in the incident to know more than gossip. Flubdub was only about the high and mighty, and since I had only been an star-monger I took no part in it.

This was not a very good spot for my thoughts to stroll to, I was bound to find some sort of disport. I could play with my new familiar, a covens witch named Brooke or I could go to the demonmall and spent some money, maybe even visiting the house of lust.  
I pulled my amulett free of my shirt and watched the silver surface sparkle in the moons light, a disconnecting pull went through me, right to my core.  
I was sitting upright in a blink of an eye.  
"What the hell." I touched my awareness to a ley line, receiving a slow purring.  
"Fantastic, so much for disport and free time, work is calling. Lets see which idiot got himself killed this time."

I snapped my fingers and catched my special astronomic mirror out of thin air, I laid it next to me on the bench, circling the etched glyths like a long missed lover.  
My legs were aligned in a tailors seat, while closing my eyes I willed the line to take my mind with its purring. My fingers found the symboles to access the seers state on their own.  
I braced myself for the moment the realities would hit me, it was always breath taking, direct access to the fabric of the worlds was something special even for a demon.

Nausea took me in and two silhouettes were appearing in front of my bodyless mind.  
One had black short hair and an aura of worry, the other was furious and seeping darkness all over the place. It was the one with the red mane which messed up my vision  
But nevertheless I knew she was kin, and since it felt unexperienced it could only be Rachel Marianna Morgan, the female born from the witches.  
If it had been Newt there, we would be in for… well it was better not to even think about that. I have seen Newt losing it once, and even in a vision I was not up for it again.  
Rachel was the one freshly mated to Al. Well, that made Algaliarept our dead demon.  
It only needed the thought about him to realign my viewing angle, showing me his usually form laying in his own blood.  
'Messy kill,' I thought and willed my mind to bare witness to his murder.

The scene currently happening was replaced by a swirl and interception of colors, slowly reforming themself in a picture of black and white.  
Al had taken the form of one of his playthings, if my memory was working correctly he was named Piscary something. Well, that something came with 10 additional names, and I would bet good money that I had them in some folder at the office. He was registered as vampire and had been into the information trade. He was also noted as dead, killed by some girl called Skimmer.  
The young woman fighting Al, was doing so with a ... was that a lamp ... the picture got more explicit, to show me what she was using to combat him with and yes my guess was right. I saw the redhead trapped in silver and breaking her own finger, with help of the living vampire. She was trying to get rid of chain, binding her abilities to reach a line.  
Why the hell was she this side of the lines, she belonged with Al until she was teaches properly. The pain seeped through their bond to Al and he got pretty distracted.

The vampire broke the lamps pole, which reminded the demon of her presence but it was by far to late. Pain stroked through me as I saw how she killed him, a clean strike through the heart. If I had been there I would be clapping my hands, that kill was like a piece of art and luck, but killing a demon was a serious crime, it would get her hunted down from the ever after. Unless his mate would claim the right to do it herself, and by the looks of it she wasn't in for a bargain with the courts.  
Not that I would bereave her of her rightful revenge, I was old, bored and tired, not insane and stupid. I willed my mind back to the presents, checking up how Rachel was doing.  
I saw her blasting the wall of the church, missing the living vampir on purpose, playing with her prey.

Memories of Al visiting me for some cake came to my mind.  
"Never killed anyone, who didn't asked her to. She has a big problem with the killing and slavering part..."  
That reminded me of a far younger Newt, she wasn't as green and innocent as the witchlady but she was a lot less, well, erratic.  
I formed the glyphs to pick one of the possible futures. What if given demoness was about to sense Al's passing and jumps to trigger the resurrection curse herself.  
Colors swirled and this time the vision was all dark red and white. Bad choise Dali, Bad choise.

_The island corner of Rachel kitchen was missing, as well as an entire wall. The vampire was nowhere to be seen, probably death. Newt was next to Al's body and grinned at Rachel.  
"Nice thing, you got him killed sooner than myself, thank you Rachel dear"  
The other female was growling at her.  
"Leave him alone?"  
"What would you do if I don't?" Our lady asked with a smirk and summoned her staff.  
"Well, then I will kill you next." Rqchel answered with a smirk of her own, while she collected darkness like a weapon.  
"To young, by far to young love"  
Rachel bared her teeth and unleashed a rippon of darkness, she wasn't playing anymore since she was aming directly for Newt. The other female evaded the attack what swallowed the place she had been standing on. _  
This was bad, really bad, I willed myself back to the presents not wanting to witness this fight further.

One future down.  
I chosed the next, the one where she would kill Ivy and would never know Al could be resurrected.  
_ I cried aloud as chaos embraced me, everything was grey and intercepted by broken glass, nothing seemed to make sense. The air tasted like ash and the church was empty, burned down. The neighborhood looked the same, as far as my eyes were able to take in the surroundings, nothing was alive anymore.  
I gulped hard, it looked like a mirror of the ever after, and together with the alieness of the vision I came to the conclusion that this would cause our second female to go insane too._  
Hasty I released that thread and went on to the next.

_This time she killed the vampire and got Al back afterwards. The vision was grey, blue and a bit adorned with broken glass. Some parts were making sense, others not. She was sitting in his bedroom, starring at his fake window, and still wearing his bedsheet.  
Al misted into existence right next to her.  
"Rachel." She turned around and looked at him, her eyes were full of tears but otherwise death.  
"I killed her...", she said, voice as lifeless as her eyes.  
"I'm sorry for getting distracted." He sat next to her and gave a bottle of dark stone to Rachel.  
"What's this?"  
"Shifting curse, we can't let you run around maimed."  
"I killed Ivy, I deserve all pain I'm able to survive."  
"She killed me!"  
"It doesn't matter, I lost controll. I leveled the church... maybe Jenks and his family are also..." She couldn't finish the sentence and Al embraced her in his arms, kissing her forehead.  
"Everything is going to be fine"  
"FINE, you call that fine." Rachel growled and her eyes flashed black in instinct driven anger. Again the darkness surrounded her like an infection.  
"Nothing is ever going to be fine again." She got up from the bed and the edges of broken glass increased in their numbers. That idiot was breaking apart the remains of her sanity._  
Two futures ending with Rachel insane one with her and Newt fighting, which was equal to a dead-sentence. I extracted myself of those futures and returned to the now.

Ivy was backing behind the island corner and trying to talk sense into the witchlady, but everything she got out of her was a good laugh.  
I sighed, this was going to be a close call. I had to jump and finish the curse before Rachel killed Ivy, and the only person with enough influence on her was her dead mate. Failure would led to our doom, almost for sure. Slowly my thoughts left the warping of space and time, returning to my body. My fingers left the mirror and I returned it to its proper place.

I got up from the bench, pursing my lips. Why wait the 6 days remaining until the full moon to bear the astrologer robe again? Why not doing it right away, it was going to be revealed anyway, and no one knew if we would be still alive by then.  
Dying as a coward in hidding was not an option either.  
A grin shifted over my lips and with a snap of my fingers I was wearing the white dress with the red and black plaid plus the additional magical sigels of my order.  
That I was the only remaining member of the order de tempi made no difference.  
With a sigh I jumped to Al's bedroom, calk in hand I draw a special circle on his closet and reached trough it. Extracting a shining bottle of golden light, the second part to trigger a resurrection curse was the aura of the death person. Nice to know Al had made that curse right after getting his kitchen back.  
I closed my eyes tapped a line and jumped to the other side of reality.

* * *

Hi there, I hope you will forgive me for killing Al. Demons are demons and there is a big big arsenal of curses. So I added a few^^

I liked the idea about Dali, I hope he is not to much OOC.

I put in some latin this time, but I don't know much about that language, so please don't kill me.  
_"duae mundis coires me et mea sacre sumum" -  
"two worlds becoming one, surround me and my victim"_  
It draws a circle onto the earth, which can be envoked.

_"demon stultissimus" _  
comes from _"homo stultissimus"_ which means _dipshit_, but since it's a demon using it, I replaced "homo" with "demon"


	11. And for a few demons more, the second

**A demoness awakens XI**

**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part eleven of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Dali / Newt / Rachel / and an ugly face  
**Summary:** Dali is bringing Al back to live. Newt witness a part of Rachel going postal and trys to call a lazy demon on his day off, gets a don't disrupt sign and went hunting. Rachel don't like Dali messing with her dead mate much. Worse comes to worse.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XI: _And for a few demons more, the second_**

**- Dali -**  
As soon as I misted into existence the dark presence of the furious female enclosed me, making it hard to breath. I sensed her awareness skipping over my skin and braced myself for an attack, which to my delightment never came.  
I bent down next to Algaliarept and touched his cooling skin. Rachel invoked a circling spell, which brought me to the question who the hell teached it to her.  
"Oh shit...," I whispered, as the signs were falling into place. She was seeping darkness and uttering spells she didn't even knew existed, she has tapped into the demondatabase.  
If her subconscious would find the more lethal ones we were going to be toast.  
Rachel closed the circle and it was a compromised one, but nevertheless a clear sign not to interfer with her. Not that I ever intended to do that, she wouldn't listen to me anyway, and I had better things to do than wasting my time.

I returned to my mission, and draw Al onto my knees, opening his mouth and making him swallow his aura. My hand came to rest on his torso right over his injury.  
Fingers finding the old spells gestures with ease, while my mind became one with the lines. The only thing I could do about Rachel, was hoping that she was more concerned about killing the vampire than about a demon in her living room next to her death mate.  
If she would kill me now, Al and myself would be gone for good.  
My subconscious tapped into the demondatabase, while my will pressed the ley line energy together with the parsed data into his body. I felt the wound closing up and severed the connection immediately.  
His heart was healed, what was left now, was to collect his soul out of the lines and binding it back to his body.  
I raised the remaining bottle of aura to my own lips, taking his essence into my body, making myself the communication medium of that spell. My own aura drained from me, spilling myself together with Al's all over the continent. It was like a fire, every demon and probably a lot of ley line witches and elven would by able to sense. Slowly, oh so slowly his pieces found each other, mingled togehter under the protection bubble of my will.

I felt a change in the lines flux, disharmony spreading and wind that smelled like ever after, someone had jumped right next to me, and it was a demon. As long as the spell lasted I was easy prey, since I wasn't able to do shit about it.

**- Newt -**  
I was looking into the mirror, studing my face, trying to remember how I looked like fourthousand years ago. I wanted to change myself back to my previous appearance, not willing to face the palace as my current bald androgynous self.  
It would embarrass my ancestors that one of their own was running around like that.  
I touched the cold surface and willed the image to give back that piece of my memory. No such thing as mercy for me. Pain ran trough my veins as I tried to break the influences of approximately a thousands forget potions. Some of them were probably my doing, some of them were Minias fault.

Minias was my ex-familiar, I remembered hunting him, but I wasn't entirely sure I had killed him yet. Anger rose like a old friend to my frustration and I jerked the damn mirror off the wall,threw it against another, screaming in agonie.  
"JEREMIIIIII!" I yelled my current familiars name. He was a demon with long red hair, dark skin and an egyptian stil of clothings.  
He appeared in front of me, helping me to my feet. Strange I never noticed I had gone down. Slightly embarrassed by my own lack of controll, I coughed.  
"Yes?" He asked in his normal serene voice.  
"I need a painting of my old face, go to the palace and bring one of my pictures back to me?"  
"How may I get into the palace, it had been sealed by you. And you forbid any entrance with a dead penalty given for violation." At least he wasn't asking why I needed a freaking picture of myself. Why should he, it was common knowledge that I was insane, but grace of creation for whom dares to speak it aloud.  
I strode to my box of heirloom and snatched an amulett, throwing it at him.

"Take that, put it infront of the big gargoyle statue, if he don't let you through then, tell him you were send by Newtanalea ab Chibirias, that you are my rightful familiar and he has to grant you access!" He seemed to role my full name over his minds tongue.  
"Newtana..." I hurled a painful thunder his way, making him crash against the wall.  
"DON'T you dare to speak that name, unworthy worm, I ever hear you adressing me with it, and I will rip your tongue out, permanently! Same goes for telling anyone in any sort of way." He turned ashed, which made me smile brightly.  
"Now, off, off with you." I beckoned at him so he might leave, the sooner I got my picture, the better. A strange disconnecting pull went through me, I willed my mind to a line before the feeling could slip in deeper. A soft purring was the result, so someone just killed a demon and a resurrection curse was calling for its other half.

I dried to remember when the last demon was killed and of course my mind was giving me the blank page. I wandered around the room, trying at least to get a name. Mabye it was one of my kills. I scratched my bald head, good thing I had no hair anymore, since I would have been pulling it hard in situations like that. I kicked the box shot and left the room to enter my kitchen. Someone else would follow that call. I was having no summoning name for a reason, and common service was not on my plate either.  
I fished out my silver disc and filled it with water. Curiousity on the other hand wasn't unknown to me, so what could it hurt to play peeping tom. I picked my finger and squeezed three drops of blood into the water. The smell of burnt amber rose and the water mirror turned dark first.

Strange, should this spell act like that, most certainly not, something was wrong. I scratched my dome again and looked furious at my reflection, about to smash that damn thing against the wall as my frustation was getting the better of me. The image cleared.  
Shock went through me, damn the red dust on the surface.  
That girl, I knew her, from somewhere, somehow. Damn forget potions. She looked like an angry demoness, pretty pissed and powerful.  
"JEREMI!" No answer, I would teach that damn familiar to obey its masters orders.  
Slowly it came back to the front of my head that I had sent the unlucky male to the palace, I grinned on my eagerness. Curious if he would be able to survive my quest. The palace was laden with traps and curses to prevent thievery. I raised my eyebrow as I tried to remember what exactly that quest had been. Fuck, I hate then that happend.  
Without noticing I threw the silver water mirror against the wall, nullifying its curse. I swore and lifted the thing off the floor, refilling it with water and renewing its spell.

A blasted wall, and more darkness, I cursed aloud. This should be something for Dali to take care of. Where was that damn lazy demon. A bit irritated I started the search for my scrying mirror, I was about to call him, order him to look for the dead demon and taking care of that female. My search didn't lasted long, with a cry of triumph I put my hand onto the mirror.  
It would have been easier to reach him through the communal curse what didn't required a scrying mirror, but it was Sunday and Dali was a bit peculiar about his day off, so he turned off his communication via thoughts spell.  
Annoyance filtered through my mind.  
'Dali! Answer you damn landline, this is Newt speaking.'  
Damn, a don't disrupt sign.

I growled, who the hell was I, being turned down at the front door. Ohhh no dear, you got the wrong girl here. Furious I tapped a line and jumped right to his private quaters, only to be trapped by his defense system, turned and spitt out to mist into existence outside his house.  
I was starting to get pissed, really pissed. How dare that mother-fucker.  
"DALI, if you don't want me to blast your damn door in, get your ass over here! I have a bone to pick with you!"  
Snarling at the door after 10 seconds of utter silence I kicked it. Of course the door wasn't impressed by it. I cut my hand and smeared a sign of destruction on the wooden surface, feeding it with line energy and steping to the side to avoid the suppose to be backslash.  
Nothing! Sometimes I hated that old man, he was just a bit to good with the arts, I would have to do something about it.

"I'm most sincery regreting to tell you, that the master is currently not at home. Since you wouldn't find him here oh Great and Furious One I would suggest ..."  
"Silence the babble! Where did he go to. Talk!" I hissed at the ugly face.  
But the moment it decisioned on an answer, it wasn't necessary anymore. I was able to sense Dali. I turned around on my heels searching for him, about to give him a piece of my mind.  
Not there! The reason hit me right between the eyes, he wasn't here by body just by aura. His aura was flowing trough all the lines around me, he had already triggered the resurrection curse.  
"Newt you are sooo slow!" I complimented myself and tried to find the source of his aura. It took a while to do so, but the moment I had his location, I jumped.

Darkness encompassed me, magic was drifting heavy through the air. The angry woman had someone trapped in a circle of ever after, and was facing Dali who was sitting somewhat behind me. She uttered a spell that made me narrow my eyes on her.  
Who on hells red dust, teached her, I would take the demons head for it. It was obvious a demon curse and she threw it Dali's way, since she hadn't bother to look at me yet.  
I was angry at him for rejecting my calls, but was I willing to lose him over it.  
No, most certainly I wasn't. I made a gesture with my left hand and willed the ever after into shape, spinning a circle around us. Her spell hit hard and made my teeth rattle with its force.

That was no witch over where, I eyed the girl over through the black sheet of ever after which was my circle. No witch not the slightest bit of it. Demon, female to top that off. I had killed all my sisters, and any other female, why was this one here? My gaze went to Dali, inquiring him to talk info. But he was out cold since he was bringing back the dead demons soul to his body.  
A second spell hit the outline of my circle, while I looked our unlucky one over. I knew that one, Algaliarept? Who the hell had the wits and the guts to dig him in.  
Memories tugged at me, he had mated, ohhh uhh, that made the one on the other side of my barrier his mate, ergo it must have been that student of his. Slowly the name came to me, together with the scheduling of the party to their honor, my lips turned up, because I felt suddenly total cheerful.  
"Rachel, splendiferous." Dali extracted himself from the lines and returned to his body, pushing Al's soul back to his shell and sealing it with a kiss onto his flesh.

**- Dali -**  
Today must have been my lucky day, I wasn't dead yet, just trapped in another demons circle. But fine with me, it could have been a looooot worse and trust a seer to know worse. I had collected all the missing parts of Algaliarepts soul, and was now ready to give it back to him. Slowly I pushed him from me, his flesh took him in with hunger, his memories flowing through me, merging with parts of my own. Good thing I was always able to protect my most secret thoughts, but so was Al.  
Always a good affair for a demon to be able to do so. I bent down and touched lips to lips breathing in a sparkel of life with it.

A shudder ran through his body, proving to me that the spell had worked correctly. Now I had time to deal with the demon beside me. I gulped as I took in Newts form, great of all people it had to be her. At least Al wasn't dead anymore and Newt was not alone, otherwise I would have said we were pretty screwed.  
"Newt, love what brings you to this side of the lines." She ignored me fixed with her mind and eyes on Rachel, this was so not good, because Rachel was also centered on her.  
"Get away from Algaliarept." The young one spat in our direction, getting a disapproval snort as an answer.  
I had to get those two off each others throats, non of them was my mate and Newt wasn't helping matters with Al trapped in her circle.  
My thoughts were running wild and I got to my feet, sighing in annoyment, women were a plague, at least Rachel and Newt were. I grabed Newts arm and turned her to face me.  
"Listen, and listen well daughter of the earth, I have seen the stars move this night, so let me announce their notification. Two led for the field of madness, one to the gate of Death. Damnation is ours if one of tern comes Truth."

Newts face was distorting at first, and I was pretty sure she would hack my arm off for touching her unbidden, then her eyes took in my robe and my words and her furiousness turned to hot smoky air. It was pure luck of mine that I had decided on that clothes.  
"Dallkarackint what's the meaning of this." A wave of her hand covered my whole appearance.  
"I sensed my son dying tonight, so I asked for the advices of the stars. All threads of possible futures led to our extinction. We have to figure out one that wouldn't destroy us for good"  
Al was slowly sitting up, while Rachel continued her mindless attacks on Newts barrier, each time trying a new spell.  
She was assimilating the content of the demons database with rising speed. If she reached her minds full capacity, the limit of how much input her brain and soul could store, the database would begin to overwrite her lifes memory, leaving a soulless shell of knowledge. It had happend before, I had seen it all, but it was another story, there was no time to dwell in the past now.

"And how?"  
"First would be to stop taunting her, don't you see she is connected to the database. Sooner or later she will find a spell to break your circle. There is knowledge kept inside even you never touched. Second would be to get Algaliarept within touching distance. She is his mate, so he will be our key to bring her back."  
Newt eyed the revived demon.  
"What happend?" He asked right that moment, touching his chest, slowly sorting through his memories to get them in order.  
"Your mate is going rambo with curses from the database, you should probably do something. But if you can help it, don't get yourself killed another time. I'm tired of reanimating you."  
His red eyes found mine.  
"Dali? Newt? What's with that clothes?" An eruption almost took us all of our footings. I grabed Newts arm again, this time for balance. Al was down on his but again, swearing colorful as he took in his students condition.

"So much pain..." My son whispered. Today seemed to be the moment where all of my background was coming back to bit me a good one.  
He was on his feet again, Newt was slowly turning pale.  
"Rachel... " He wasn't so sure anymore, neither was I. Our own female started to commune with the line to hold our compromised circle constant. So the young one was starting to touch the lethal ones. Curses to level towns and stuff like that. Hell this was going south fast, I wasn't even sure if there was anything left of Rachel Marianna Morgan to save anymore.  
"Do something and do it NOW." I smacked Al head-first into Newts circle. He growled at me and ought to know that would get him nowhere, I raised an eyebrown.  
We were protected enough in Newts circle, at least for now. But what was with Rachels own one, the one trapping Ivy. How long would it stand up to her bombardment, how long until the demoness would see her error and just drop it, exposing the defenseless vampire to the ricochets of her curses.

"Rachel!" Al reached for the line, winced at its first touch, his soul still to sore from his death, he gritted his teeth and dove deaper into it. His chi wasn't working right so most of the ley line energy was seeping from him, better than frying his brains.  
He sworn very illustrative, and ignored his body's protest.  
"Newt can you hold the circle please, I have to teach him something."  
The insane demoness looked me over like I had just insulted her badly, but she said nothing, instead she concentrated on controlling the flux of ever after.  
I sat down on the floor cross-legged.  
"Sit down! You will never reach her this way, you have to travel by mind."  
"Travel by mind? How's that?" I had sworn never to teach another demon, but, hey, I was the only member alive, so that made me the boss, right, and to my defense I wasn't seeing any other option to save my kin.

I summoned my seers mirror and put it on the floor.  
"Sit and touch the glass, mirror my gestures, and I mean mirror them, not just doing the same thing. While you do this tap the line. And when I take your mind with me don't resist no matter what. Done wrong this can kill a demon. Do you get that!"  
"Äh... Dali?"  
"Do you get that?" He was wasting moonlight, and his almost panic wasn't supporting the purpose of this.  
"Yes." Damn, he sounded like a first timer, well he was one, and he didn't knew anything about traveling. I prayed to my lucky-star so I wouldn't get us all killed.  
"Hurry the fuck up!" Came it hissing from Newt.

* * *

So Al is finally back alive, but the problems never seemed to be ending. Now it's Rachel messing everything up. She didn't notice Al's resurrection and wents postal on the three demons. Added to the whole pot of shit is a very old demon database, which is giving the young female the curses to deal major damage.

How are they going to save Rachel and Ivy, and what is this going to cost, demons do nothing without a catch.

By the way _ Chibirias _is the mayan goodness of earth, that makes Dali's little message a bit more articulately.


	12. The database

**A demoness awakens XII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part twelve of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Dali / Rachel / Kila / Newt  
**Summary:** Dali takes his son on a journey into the database. Al finds Rachel but loses Dali on the way. Dali has a secret laying in the depths of the database, and he need to use it to find them both, and the price is paid in pain.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XII:_ The database_**

**- Al -**  
Slowly I felt whole again, I began to sense the lines outside my mind and tried to pick one. I wanted to get my body back. This was the moment I became aware of the foreign bubble protecting my thoughts. What had happened?  
The next piece of me slipped trough the bubble and joined my incomplete self. There was only one time when a demon ended up shattered between the two worlds, when he died.  
So I was dead again, Dali was about to be pissed shitless, I knew it.  
I accepted the next piece of me what slipped through the other demons barrier and tried to identify the one bringing me back alive.  
And there it was the ashy taste of burned paper, which was my father's taste of soul, Dali. Oh thank you, this ought to get pretty good.

His grasp shifted and pulled us out of the lines, I sensed the cells of his body surrounding me, it was an excellent moment to steal another demons soul, but somehow I trusted Dali not to keep it. And there came the vortex of energy, creating a thread to my body, his bubble broke and our memories mixed.  
Realigning my will I created my own sphere of protection, there are memories you don't want to share. I sensed his approval on my reaction and a painful shock shifted trough my whole being, pain enclosed me and I felt like I was weighing a thousand tons.  
Slowly all the other wits came back alive, first was the sense of touch, than smell, taste, and hearing. I became aware of a multiple-frequency singing in the lines, two demons were using its full potential.  
One tasted like roses and the other of broken glass. Rachel and Newt, oh that wasn't good. I tried to wake up faster, but once pulled back alive the body needed its time.  
I had to wait.

A few seconds what appeared to be hours past by and I was able to control my limbs again, I sat up and opened my eyes.  
"What happened?" I asked, more to test my vocal cords, than truly hunting for information.  
My vision was clearing slowly.  
"Your mate is going rambo with curses from the database, you should probably do something. But if you can help it, don't get yourself killed another time. I'm tired of reanimating you."  
Oh and there it was the bitter irony of his accusation, I was about to utter a response, but something stopped me.  
First we were enclosed by a circle which Newt was holding, wonder over wonder, and better not ask what this was going to cost, second what were these ridiculous clothes on my father.  
I was getting to my feet.  
"Dali? Newt? What's with these clothes?" Just too curious about it, they looked pretty formal, but the knowledge what they might mean was lost to me. A detonation threw me back on my ass. Oh thank you, like I wasn't hurting enough already.

A painful blow went through my, rasping my aura and soul, the connection with my mate sprang back alive. Pain filtered through my whole being. I gasped, oh shit!  
I knew that sort of pain, had experienced it myself once, she thought I was dead.  
"Rachel ...," I touched the inline of Newts circle, it burned my skin, but the pain was nothing noticeable anymore, taking in the view of my furious mate, feeling her pain and panic.  
She was losing herself fast, I had to safe her, I would not suffer my worst nightmare a second time. For a second everything went black and my nose hurted like hell. Someone had bashed my into Newts circle. I growled at him.  
"Do something and do it NOW." He hissed at me. Hell, I would be doing something if I knew what exactly I was supposed to do.

"Rachel!" I tapped a line, gritting my teeth at the almost unbearable pain, which was caused by a too thin aura. Fuck it all to the Turn and back, I was helpless, and I could not afford to lose her. I had to reach Rachel, no matter the cost. If I would be able to commune with the same line as she was I might be able to reach her soul. I opened myself more to it and whined at the influx, my fucking chi wasn't able to hold the energy, it spilled outside my body and pooled around my feet as golden light.  
I cursed colourful in utter despair. Someone touched my shoulder and drained the line from me.  
'What the hell,' it left me blinking down at Dali, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor now.  
"Sit down! You will never reach her this way... "  
'You don't have to tell me old man I knew it isn't working, but thanks for reminding me anyway'  
"... You have to travel by mind."  
"Travel by mind? How's that?" I didn't even knew that was possible, okay given the right curse it was, but without it? Without a proper auras protection, I didn't dare to use it.

He snapped his fingers and a mirror appeared in his fingers, my eyes scanning the glyphs on it. I frowned since I wasn't able to remember the curse coming with those.  
"Sit and touch the glass, mirror my gestures and I mean mirror them, not just doing the same thing. While you do this tap the line. And when I take your mind with me don't resist no matter what. Done wrong this can kill a demon. Do you get that!"  
I looked him over like he had sprouted a second head.  
"Äh... Dali?" I was going to ask about the curse, about the mirror and about my damaged aura. Hell he was a demon as well; he ought to know that spelling without a proper aura was suicidal. He cut me short.  
"Do you get that?" I gritted my teeth, he brought me back just now, it would be outright insane to kill me so soon afterwards. And for all I knew Newt, by the way, standing right behind me, was the only insane demon. So I had to simply trust Dali, which wasn't an easy task for any of us. I would have felt better if he had demanded a mark as payment.

A new wave of soul-crippling pain flowed from Rachel to me. Fuck, screw the results of that, I was running out of time  
"Yes." I was nervous as hell, but whatever Dali had in mind, I would go for it, totally his at the moment.  
"Hurry the fuck up!" Came it hissing from Newt, which was facing her circles flux, redirecting ever after with economical aptitude.  
"I swear to kill the demon giving this child access to the database", she growled, was ignored by both of us. Dali was showing me the gestures of the unknown curse.  
I must have been utterly brain-death, because as he tapped a line I mirrored his actions and formed the symbols with him. I didn't know shit about that spell, dipshit's mistake the second. A personal record, Rachel's missing ability to make decent choices seemed to be catching. Thanks a lot; I knew a bond with her would be a very bad idea.

We both touched the glass in union, the pretty uncomfortable felling of the line inside of me exploded to a white painful flash, and than there was nothing.  
I felt a pull at my soul, it tasted like ash, remembering his words I resists the urge to build up resistance and let him move me forward.  
My percipience expanded to more than one plane, Newt's and Rachel's aura were visible all of a sudden, the colours were messed up.  
I felt Dali's tender touch all around me, but I saw his body, and mine sitting on the floor. Damn that was a strange feeling.  
'Al concentrate on your mate, concentrate on the ribbon tying both of you together. Follow its directions. We need to find her quick.'  
'Dali what is this?'  
'Do what I tell you to, ask me questions later.'  
I growled at him in disagreement, but did what he ordered nevertheless.

My minds eyes took in Rachel's fine figure, her aura bound by dark tentacles.  
'What's with that extension?'  
'This is the connection to the database'  
'She hasn't been teached how to access it. Why can she do it anyway?'  
'Maybe it's due to her good instincts, or maybe she is using your knowledge.'  
'She hasn't been teached that either.' Good instincts my ass, she was frying her brains dead.  
'What now?' I asked and Dali moved us to Rachel. Movement in this state of existence was something utterly strange.  
'Touch her soul; let yourself be pulled by its force. It will show your were you mate has gone to.' I shrugged, which weren't existing in this plane, again that was abnormal, and then I touched Rachel.

Reaching right through her shell and the moment I sensed the energy of her soul touching mine the surroundings disappeared in a swirl of colours. Damn, I was going to be sick.  
It was pulling me in and I tried to free myself of its influence, only to get kicked by Dali.  
The swirling disorder of colours stabilized slowly, glowing glyphs flowed all around us. Some off them were arranged in small assembly lines, others roamed free, pictures of grey events interrupted the view, showing parts of demonic history.  
A band of glyphs got touched by a golden thread polluted by blackness, a picture of two demon females fighting flashed alive and was gone before I could make sense of it. The thread wrapped itself around the band and the glyphs vanished, leaving more darkness on the golden fibre.

Without thinking I touched the thread and was disintegrated for an almost unnoticeable amount of time. Knowledge of spells I learned a long time ago filtered through my awareness. Than I sensed a touch on my memory as well, something invaded it and tried to pull knowledge from me. With a growl I slapped the impolite intruder, having it shrinking back from me. The moment I touched it I got a picture, it was one of a sun lighted kitchen and nice smelling cookies. Even without the aftertaste of roses I would have recognized the kitchen.  
'Rachel?' I asked warily. 'Is that you?' Hell, I wasn't sure.  
The energy of the stranger held still for a moment, swirling around me with uneasiness.  
'Al it's you?' Good, at least she was able to identify me.  
'Yes.'  
'You're dead!' She sounded, if that was the right description for it, crestfallen.  
'I was. Dali brought me back alive.' I tried to sense my father and came away with nothing. Concern sprouted through me, how was I suppose to find my way back alone?

'Back alive? You demons have a curse to bring back a dead one?' Astonishment seeped from her, making me grin in some way, enfolding her essence, unlimited relief flashed through me.  
I wouldn't lose her anymore; she was here in my arms.  
'Rachel dove, we are demons, of course there exists a curse to bring back our deads. We have curses for almost everything. Now be a dear and stop killing yourself, okay?'  
'Killing myself? I'm not killing myself.' It sounded like I told her the sky had just flashed pink.  
'Yes you are, Rachel didn't you realized that you have no body here?' She paused a moment, worry came almost directly afterwards.  
'No, are you telling me I'm dead too?'  
'Would I ask to stop killing yourself if you were?' Sometimes that witch was a total idiot, being my mate or not, sometimes she simply was.  
'Äh... don't think so, and stop talking to me like I'm being stupid.' I refrain from answering that one.  
'So where are we then?'

'This is the magical storage of the demons database.' So now I had a very good question on my own, where did I know that from? Not my own knowledge, was the database feeding me input?  
'Äh ... Al how did we get here?' I shrug.  
'For my part, I was taken here by Dali.'  
'Dali ...' she looked shocked somehow 'what does he want as payment'  
'Don't know yet, we haven't bargain till now.'  
'Stupid ass of a demon.' She almost said the same thing, I was thinking before letting him take me here, funny isn't it.  
'That's my line.'

**- Dali -**  
I had no difficulties to take his mind with me. Even the perception of a seer didn't make him reach back for his body, which was a good thing. I moved us to Rachel's body, telling him to touch her soul. Of course he wanted to know why, but time was running even on this plane, so I told him not to waste it. He obviously hated it all, but did it anyway.  
Al was pulled forward, and resisted for the first time; he had to do this now, so I shoved him through the last barrier. The connection took both of us, catapulted us right into the depths of the database.

I needed time to parse the swimming symbols of the curses around us. Most of them weren't unknown to me. Al on the other hand wasn't able to read the runes, yet.  
It was not impossible to learn it right here and now, anything he had to do was touch one glyph to assimilate its meaning. But I would bitch-slap him a good one, I didn't needed another uncontrolled lost demon on my ass.  
A thread of Rachel's soul found an amplifier curse right next too us, she chose to take it after she bared witness to its use. Her soul blackened with it, a bit more of her self lost to the database.  
According to the blackness on it, she wasn't beyond saving for the time being. Before I could do anything Al stretched his awareness to her souls wire and was ripped from my embrace, leaving me alone without a clue how to find them both now.

Of course their bound was stronger than my bloods connection with him. I should have thought about that before, swearing on my own stupidity I searched through my memory how to deal with the new situation best.  
An image hit me, one of my past doings, a woman dying in my arms. With it came the long lost sparkle of another's soul in me, the dormant bond flashed alive with fire.  
I screamed; that was the reason why I had avoided the touch of the database for so long. Pictures of a long haired female surrounded me. Kila in the sun, her wavy puce hair flying in the wind, her full lips on mine, her hand slapping my face accusing me of betrayal.  
Everything was coming back to me; yes this was my final day of reckoning.

'Kila?' I asked, pain filtering through my, I knew I could touch her again, embrace her again, all I had to do was summon my mates memories out of the database. It wouldn't be her though, I wasn't able to store all of her being into the database the moment she was fighting off Newt and died. It would hurt like hell to bear that empty touch, feeling it like it was true, and knowing the same moment that it could never happen again.  
A scream of pure agony slipped me and tears formed inside my soul. I couldn't afford to lose my son and his mate. No demon could. I had been running for so long, almost my whole life, and nothing good came from it, I was so tired.  
The wheel of stars had brought me here to face my past, had removed all other possibilities in my reach, and left me to deal with the aftermath.  
'Dallkarackint, you knew your responsibilities the moment you joint the order. Do it, do it now!' I screamed mentally at me, closed of my sense of view in this dimension and willed myself open to the databases whole touch.  
For a moment there was the welcome utter joy of a seer's full power, but it never lasted long after Kila's death.

'Kilatanijela, for your touch I long, hear my dearest of dear, I summon you to my arms, follow our bond and be one with me again.' I sensed the pull of the soul magic I evoked and knew I would regret it.  
Energy was shifting; a presence formed itself out of the databases memories, parts of her soul fused together, making my longing unbearable.  
'Dallkarackint, were have you been the whole time.' She was hurt, and she was also sensing my despair. Last time I touched her memory I had to explain her death in all details. I was hoping I wouldn't have to do it again.  
'I'm sorry for leaving you behind, but I couldn't face the pain off losing you.'  
She felt blank for a second.  
'Yes, I'm dead, I remember. So if you haven't come for me, or to store yourself here, why touching the rest of my essence?' Good thing she remembered our last talk, which had almost killed me for good.

'Our son has mated and was killed a few minutes ago. I pulled him back, but his mate has lost it and fussed with the database. She is trying to down Newts circle, which is protecting mine and Al's body. I lost him as he touched a part of his mates soul. I need your help to find those two.' Yes I longed to be done with it, the more time I spent with her aura touching me; the more unwilling I would be to leave her again.  
'You brought Algaliarept's soul into the database.' Kila eyed me over clearly not amused about it.  
'I knew that rules weren't you stronghold Dali, but this is dangerous. He has not the same education as you. He will get lost.'  
'No he hasn't. But he is the only one who could persuade Rachel that he is still alive.'  
'Rachel, that's her name? Mh, never heard of her. Wait you said Newt was the only female left, how can he forge a bond with one?'  
'Long story, Rachel is from the witches, the elves repaired what they destroyed, and somehow she was able to bond them like a demoness. If she turns insane as Newt did, our kin is done for real this time.' I forced myself on the facts, trying not to thing about Kila and my forthcoming leave.

'So you're basically saying you want me to save them both, and all those traitors. Newt is still alive; you didn't took revenge for me.' She accused.  
'No I didn't, she was the only one left, and no matter how small the hope, our people needed that, beside killing her would have lead to my own death.'  
'Coward, it would have been your responsibility as my mate to punish her for killing me.'  
'I told you the moment you took me as your mate that I'm a seer and the weal of our kin comes before anything else. There was a reason why they forbidden the bonds for members of the order.'  
'Always the same thing, you were forbidden to store me as well and you did it anyway.'  
'I love you, and I loved you back then, I couldn't just stand by and watch her killing you. I had to do something, and it was the only thing possible for me.' My soul wailed and I felt like I wasn't able to do anything right at all.

'Kila, will you now after you broke me down, help me save our son and his mate?' I asked with almost no hope left anymore. She sensed it and embraced me, which made it somehow better and all the more worse. I cried aloud with all the pain.  
She released me.  
'Sorry about that Dali and yes I will.' My mate stretched her being through the database and a thread came alight.  
'Follow the thread, save my son, save his mate. Go and leave me with my loneliness.'  
It sounded so bitter that I almost didn't reached for the twine; I sensed her pain sliding over my soul.  
'I'm sorry, Kilatanijela I will find a way to bring you back alive. I have violated so many laws one more does not make a difference anymore.' I tried not to look back at her, because I knew I would never be able to leave then. In silence I touched the thread and was gone.  
'Farewell, Dallkarackint.' And her presence dissolved into the normal humming of the database, my bond lay dormant again. But the pain remained like a gift.

* * *

Here is the next part of the fanfiction.  
Rachel is in deep shit, even deeper than usuall, and two demons are riding to her rescue.  
It's working out, but each one will have to pay a high price for it. Do never forget, demons do nothing for free. Please speculate about it, I'm curious about your ideas ^^.

I like the part of Dali's past very much, and if I find the time there will be a side-fic about it.


	13. Talking payment

**A demoness awakens XIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part thirteenth of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Dali / Rachel  
**Summary:** Al finds Rachel in the database and both of them are talking, then a pissed off Dali appears beside them and start to talk payment. His encounter with Kila only makes him more expensive. Owning a demon marks is a bitch.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XIII: _Talking payment_**

**- Rachel -**  
The last thing I remembered was a strange demons aura all over the place, the line was singing with him. I kicked the vampire into my usual kitchen circle and trapped her there. I would kill her later, that damn demon was more important now. I didn't even wanted to think about what a potential shit he was charging up there.  
I turned around, my mind told me the demons name was Dali, and he had Al in his hand.  
Even dead I wanted to protect him, that another demon was touching mine was intolerable.  
I began to utter a curse and a second blob announced the arrival of the next one, was this day of open house? I threw the curse their way and it hit a black sheet of ever after.  
They had circled themselves and trapped my mate with them.  
I growled to leave him alone, but no one was listing, and then I became aware who the second demon was. NEWT. Fucking Newt in my freaking kitchen, with my mate in her circle, oh No. My fantasy ran amok with the possibilities this situation may offer.

Fear, anger, hatred and sorrow mixed together, I wanted him back at all costs. Something was swelling inside of me, it buried me in darkness. Suddenly I felt no weight anymore, anything seemed to make sense, strange symbols were swimming around me, providing knowledge how to get my mate back. Without wasting a thought about payments, I claimed it as my own. Magic and memories were suddenly mine. I realized that this connection had been there the whole time, since I had lusted after Al. It was something utterly demonic, and hell it felt good, like a pure shot of power.  
I tried curse after curse, curious about their effect, trying to break Newt's circle down, it was a compromised one, since there was a power supply line running under it.  
But whatever I tried she was directing the ever after in a way that I couldn't break it, no matter what. I went further into these strange instincts, letting it take me in exchange for its power.

I didn't know what happened then, the next thing what came to my awareness was a voice.  
'Rachel? Is that you?'  
I hold still to listen more closely, the voice sounded like someone I knew, and I wished it to be Al. So I asked if it might be him. He was the only person I wanted to speak to.  
'Al it's you?' I waited, holding my breath. Please be alive, please.  
'Yes.' His voice whispered. A picture of a wooden spear through his heart drifted before my eyes. No it couldn't be him  
'You're dead!' It was too big a wish and I suddenly remembered how I had felt after losing Kisten; both times it had been my fault.  
'I was. Dali brought me back alive.' Against my expectation he answered again, and I was about to think he was a figment of mine. But at least once I seemed to be the lucky one. My brain parsed his words and it startled me.

'Back alive? You demons have a curse to bring back a dead one?' I was astonished and on the other hand I thought: 'Rachel you are so silly. Demon, stop forgetting that!'  
I felt his utter relief like balsam on my rasped soul, it had to be him, it surely felt like him.  
'Rachel dove, we are demons, of course there exists a curse to bring back our deaths. We have curses for almost everything. Now be a dear and stop killing yourself, okay?'  
Why haven't he told me before that there was such a thing, and I almost killed Ivy over his dead body.  
'Killing myself? I'm not killing myself.' I spoke before I realized it. What an asshole, he got killed on me and now he was telling me I went suicidal.

'Yes you are, Rachel didn't you realized that you aren't here by body?' Irg, good question, and no I hadn't. Oh shit, had I died with him, was he using the curse to bring me back from the dead as well?  
'No, are you telling me I'm dead too?' I couldn't believe it.  
'Would I ask to stop killing yourself, if you were?' Oh, phased like that it sounded silly, even to me.  
'Äh... don't think so, and stop talking to me like I'm being stupid.' Al kept his silence, which proved more than anything else, that I had been a moron. I swallowed my anger, since I knew it would get me pretty much nowhere. Instead of my usual reaction to feeling stupid, which was fighting, I just asked the first question coming to my mind.  
'So where are we then?' I almost expected some lame ass answer, with a new reminder how awful dumb I was. If he would dare I was bound to kick his ass. Once was Rachel growing up, twice was Rachel turning into a door mate.

'This is the magical storage of the demons database.' I looked at him with a blank expression, not getting it. What was that database? I remembered the glyphs I touched while being here, and that they were visual displayed curses. So, there was a second demon-database which wasn't storing the demons and familiars DNS. Interesting how many were where and how the hell did I get here? No such time as the presents to ask: 'Äh ... Al how did we get here?'  
He shrugged on me, which made me angry; couldn't he at least give a straight answer once?  
'For my part, I was taken here by Dali.'  
Waiiiit, Dali I was shocked, and some bad feeling of foreboding ran through my veins.  
'Dali, what does he want as payment?'  
'Don't know yet, we haven't bargain till now.'  
I stared at him, thinking he was a total retard. I have been dealing with demons the last few years of my life, and learnt the hard way that nothing they do ever comes without a cost.  
Dali could make the payment unbelievable high, because they haven't agreed upon anything yet.  
'Stupid ass of a demon.' Secretly I asked myself if Ivy and Jenks were seeing me the same way, since it looked like something out of my Rachel book.  
'That's my line.' Al answered with a smirk. Asshole, he had just thought the same thing.

'You really don't want my lines. You're total morons, both of you! First you let someone trap you in silver, then you break your hand to get rid of it, fucking Algaliarept's attention to hell with it. Than you my son, let that freaking vampire-bitch kill you. I had to bring you back, while you went rambo with curses, Newt pops in and guess what, you two dipshitasses, she is holding a protectioncircle over Al and me, so you don't blast us all to hell.'  
I blinked at the new voice, remembering it as Dali's. He felt dark and dangerous, almost furious. He was swearing badly, while switching his pointed finger from one to the other.  
'Son?' I asked.  
'Where did you know that from?' came from Al's direction.  
But the demon responsible for the courts wasn't giving us any attention; he just continued his cascade of insults.

'Had anyone of you a functioning brain to start with? Did you just toasted it to crisp while bonding? I'm so pissed at both of you that I would leave you to rot in the database, if it weren't for all our futures. I will get you two out of here, and both of you will accept a mark of mine and that is a bargain price!'  
I was about to intercept his accusation, the moment he began to demand payment.  
'Don't you even dare to start a debate on it Rachel Marianna Morgan! I saved both your damn asses, and you don't have the slightest idea what I had to face for it. I ought to sue you both for uncommon stupidity.'  
The demons aura flashed black and I shivered from its force, I never knew he was that damn powerful. Somehow I managed to hid behind Al, it was his father if I hadn't misinterpreted Dali's monologue. So Al would be better suited to deal with him.  
But my demon wasn't taking the outburst of him any better than me.  
'Oh, if we were about to talk truth just now, how are you gonna pay Newt, don't think her service will be cheap. Be thankful if it doesn't cost you your souls.'  
A stream of panic flowed through me. What the fuck have I done now, owning Newt, again?

'We accept your price with all gratitude we can muster, Dali.'  
'Al,' I uttered warily and kicked his leg.  
'No, it makes no sense to gabble about it, he's right. And he might know something to pay of Newt as well. Beside I don't want to be exiled to the surface again.'  
'Dipshit,' I said, feeling betrayed and great, another freaking demon-mark to get rid off.  
'Listen to your mate Rachel. And yes there is something Newt might want bad enough to be worth four souls.'  
'Four souls? Why four souls? We are two people. Dali.' He looked me over like I just said the dumbest thing ever. What was that about demons, that made one feel stupid?  
'She is truly dim-witted, isn't she?' He commented my outburst and it sounded almost like parental disapproval. It made me almost attacking him.  
Al said nothing, but somehow I got the feeling he agreed with the older demon, I was about to kick Al's illusionary limbs a second time, but Dali broke my concentration because he spoke again.

'Four souls, did you forget that I'M protected by her circle as well, this makes my soul a trading object too, if I'm unlucky, that is. In case your math is as bad as your other skills, let me tell you, that makes three. And don't we forget that vampire, the one which killed Al. If we go for the demon laws, she's now possession of the killed demon, his mate or the courts. So, her soul is part of the bargain as well, since all three possible owners are standing right here.'  
'I don't want her so… oh.' I was about to say it, only catching the meaning of such a statement at the last moment. If I forfeit my claim on her soul, it would go to Al or Dali. I didn't want her in either demons hand, since I could guess it would end badly for Ivy. If I would take it on the other hand, I could make sure she was save with me.  
Both demons were eying me over with ravenousness, daring me to give up my rights.  
'Hell forget it, she is mine. For, she bit me and wanted to make me a shadow. I will not give up my claim on her.' I managed to sound angry, which was good, on the other hand I felt pissed at Ivy, which wasn't so good anymore. Was I taking myself a bit too serious, or was it a demon woman's destiny to go insane. Hell, I hoped not so, but I clearly felt crazy right now. Al for the time being looked subdued and truly astonished.  
'Never expected me to take my best friends soul, did you, you dumb demon.' I thought for myself, grinning, but so neither was I.

Dali just shrugged.  
'Either way, she is Newt's if she makes the price high enough.'  
'So what could be worth four souls?' I asked a bit down. If someone would have told me a week ago, that Ivy would try to bind me against my will and that I would take her soul willingly in turn, I would have called the ambulance on them.  
'Her memory.' He stated like it was total logical.  
'You possess Newts memories? How is that possible?' Al asked as dumbfounded as I might have felt.  
'No you idiot, I don't possess it. But I'm a seer and I have access to the flux of time, I can show it to her, if she insists on it. Of course this is going to make my price higher. To sum it up, Newt is probably giving each of us three marks, which makes 12 in total. Saying I buy all off them, you two will own me 9 marks from Newt and 3 off my own, since I'm giving one to Ivy for keeping her alive, too.'  
This was insane I have lived with three marks off two different demons before, and paying them off was a bitch. Three marks of the same demon and your soul belonged to him. I tried to do the math in my head at how often he could possess us, with that much of a debt and started feeling dizzy.

'Äh... Dali, how are we supposed to pay off 12 marks?'  
'Don't tell me you want our first child.' Al said a bit offended.  
'That would pay off three marks. No, this isn't going to be that easy.' He grinned, which made me feel even worse than I already felt, I had learned not to trust a grinning demon.  
'Al this is a really bad idea.' He raised his arm and signaled for me to keep my mouth shut. Like this would EVER work on me, arrogant bastard.  
'What do you want, father. Spit it out!' His eyes seemed to be glowing.  
'I want your first daughter, before she is born, I might add.' I was about to scream in his face, what I would do to his family jewels, before he would come anywhere near my daughter. This was so not gonna happen. Dali's own eyes began to glow red. Al was touching my shoulder to keep me calm, and fuck me over, it worked.  
'I will teach you the ways of a seer my son, and you will help me to extract a shattered soul from the database and sealing it into your first daughter body.'  
'NO!' I was finally able to extract myself of Al's mind-numbing quietness, furious I was about to go for Dali's throat, but was catched by my demons fast hands.

'Twelve marks are by far enough to hold both your souls, and those of all you offspring's as well, Rachel, dear. I want that soul in your first daughter, and I want it before the cell division reaches a level were she would develop her own soul. So it's basically not even a willful homicide.'  
'Oh how graceful of you, the answer is still no.' I snarled at him, and was ignored by both demons, which made me even more pissed.  
'Okay, who do you want to resurrect Dallkarackint and don't bullshit me.'  
'It's none of your business, my son.'  
'My ass it isn't, you're speaking about my supposed to be daughter.'  
'Well if you want to know it. She has helped me, so we basically own her a mark for each one of us too.'  
'What are you talking about now, you crackpot?' Both of us asked in unison.

'Kilatanijela, helped me.'  
My demon felt utterly silent at that statement, not even the slightest feeling seeped through him. Damn, that wasn't good.  
'Al? Al, are you okay... Al?'  
He started shaking on his own, before he dropped to his knees. A few tears rolling down his cheek. I was scared shitless, I had never seen Al crying. Dali waited until the immediate drama was over and said.  
'Yes I'll resurrect your mother.'  
Al said nothing, didn't respond in any way for at least 5 more seconds. Maybe it was the time he needed to regain his self-control.  
'You put her soul, here, into the database? Why didn't you bring her back alive after Newt killed her?' He hissed at him.  
'Her soul couldn't be saved as a whole, and I would never dare to bring my mate back alive with a broken soul.'  
'But this is exactly what you are planning on doing, you ... you... Ah damn my dame' Fuck; even my pixy enhanced foul-mouth was out of name-callings for him. And I had just used one of Al's dearest swearing phrases. I wasn't my own person any more; at least it felt like it.

'Wrong, I'm not. If I get Kila's soul into your daughter's body before it develops one of its own, the growing of her body will replace the parts Kila is missing. It's a win-win situation. All marks of Newt would be gone, the power of a seer will be yours Al and you would only have to pay my marks. That or you might choose to give up on your and your offspring's souls right away. Maybe I should take over your business, and sell your kids as special familiars.' The fucking hell on brimstone, he was grinning and I was about to kill that bastard. I was also crying by the time I heard the last of it. Al, you halfwit, what have you gotten us into, couldn't you have bargain beforehand. How could I save my possibly children from that maniac? But I knew the best was about to come, I sensed it right between my breasts.  
'Deal!' I stared at my demon, not believing what he had just said. I wasn't his damn familiar, he just overstepped his jurisdiction, I had a vote on my own.  
'No, fuck no, you two fuckers, don't dare to do this over my head, I say you can... '  
I was about to get into Dali's face as Al grabbed me and draw me into him, surrounding me with his essence, calming me.

'We have got no choice, I like it even less than you Rachel, we're speaking about my daughter and my mother, here.'  
'Yeah, like you would give a fairy fart of shit about that.' He looked a bit hurt, but his calmness wasn't breaking, he also refused to comment my insult. God, I hated him, him and his whole damn family plus all of demon-kind. Great, this also meant I had to hate myself, hasn't it?  
'But I don't want to lose my soul or yours for the matter of it. Believe me the life of our daughter will be considerably better with my mother's soul inside of her, than as some demon's familiar. Trust me, I know.'  
'Fucking slave trader.' How could I have forgotten this for even a second? Dali and Al were eying me a bit of wearisome.

Some piece of me swirled through my confusion and took control from me, its touch felt comforting. I eyed Dali over grinning on my own now.  
'Fine, Dallkarackint have it your way. The first time you meet her, you will remove the three marks we will be caring until then.' My voice holds that strange alieness again.  
'Hey, that wasn't part...,' He started, but I would not negotiate on it. I cut both men off with a strong gesture.  
'No, it wasn't, but it's now. Dallkarackint, I know exactly what you're planning and since I will be the mother in this, it's my right to demand any price I see fit as a dower.'  
Both demons were staring at me like I had turned into a man eating tomato and some part of me thought that was funny.  
'Rachel.' Both of them said in unison.  
'Well take it or leave it. I'm already in the database, you can't take my soul since its property of all demons as long as I'm not caring your mark and I don't have to go back. Suck that up your stupid ass demon spawn.'  
'It would mean dying Rachel.'  
'Yes it would.' Why was I able to speak so lightly of my own death?

'Rachel Marianna Morgan, if you dare to fuck up that bargain, I'm going to kill everyone you ever meet.' Dali said and Al turned ashen.  
'He means it, Rachel don't be stubborn.' I thought about my own mother, and knew he was posing a pretty good thread.  
'Well that means Trent Kalamack will be death as well, no more females, no more hope for your cursed kin. Oh Daliiii, sun, I thought it was soooo important to you.'  
He was turning red, and my grin deepened, wondering who was holding the better end of the deal here. A flash of excitement ran through me.  
'Fine, three marks for your daughter's hand, all of Newt's for my dead mate's soul in your daughter's body.'  
I stepped forward reaching for him with my hand.  
'Now bring us back home, seer.'

He looked like he had swallowed a big ugly bug. Al was unusually quiet behind me. Maybe my demon was saving his bitchings until we were alone. I for the time being couldn't care less about it. I had just sold my oldest daughter to that awful demon to save my own ass, I felt worst than ever. Dali's eyes were still glowing and his aura was promising death, but he nevertheless took my hand to seal the bargain.  
'We have got a Deal, Rachel Marianna Morgan!' He said and then the world around me shattered, it felt like broken glass was cutting me up, nausea rouse inside of my unreal body, a swirling of colors added to the already potent sickness. I was about to reincarnate my pizza, and dropped to my knees; the line was torn from my grasp and left a feeling like emery paper on my soul.  
I sensed a second drop in the line; a feminine howl came from an unpointable direction. Two circles fell almost in unison.

* * *

And there is the thirteeth chapter, to be true I never expected it to grow to this large a number, but here we are.

Rachel and Al are in major dept with Dali, and his price is as expected a bit too high.  
How will Rachel react once she is able to calm down? How is Ivy taking the show? Is Newt going to accept Dali's exchange offer? And how many marks will be dished out by the insane One?

Hey and I'm building a group for all Rachel Morgan fanarts, fanfics and what else might run through your head, please submit your stuff or point me to some work I might have missed on my own (#IntoTheEverAfter)


	14. Females, fights, curses and marks

**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part fourteenth of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Newt / Al / Dali / Ivy  
**Summary:** Al is back to the living, and Rachel still wents berserk. Dali and Al travel the database to save the girl. But what does our insane ruler think about all this riot, and what exactly is she doing while the mens are away and what about her payment.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XIV:_ Females, fights, curses and marks_**

**- Newt -**  
Al was back to the living. It must have been a really shitty day for him, first he got killed and as he came back alive, he had to face a mate's dying again. Somehow it made me grin, as I imagined the pain he would suffer from this. It was exquisite to bear witness to his helplessness. I told him Rachel should be mine, but he insisted on being her teacher, funny how some decisions are able to fuck you up the ass later, isn't it?  
"Rachel!" The demon screamed, which was annoying the hell out of me, since I was getting a headache. He reached for a line, that idiot. A demon resurrected had a period of 12 hours in which he was forbidden to mess with the lines. This rule existed for a reason.

Al twitched violent and was clearly feeling like one of his familiars in training.  
'Not very comfortable to get your own chi overflowed, isn't it.' I was grinning the second time in almost a minute.  
It looked like coming here had been the right decision after all, since it was funny as hell, and it was somehow a relief that no one was bitching about my holding a circle around them. No one was afraid of me and my craziness.  
I trusted Al to ditch the line fast, after he got his chi burnt, but obviously I had been wrong, since he did the total opposite, he tried to commune with it.  
That couldn't be true, Al was old and normally he wasn't making such stupid rookie mistakes. The ever after which his mind wasn't able to store overflowed him and pooled at his feet, taking parts of his aura with him.  
If he wouldn't stop himself, he would be dying all over again. Great, this time Dali wouldn't be able to bring him back.

"Newt can you hold the circle please, I have to teach him something."  
My eyes aligned themselves on Dali, glowing in their blackness. Was he kidding me? I was holding a circle against a child, even this half broken one wouldn't fall as long as I was recreating its fallen parts again before the bubble vanished. I was about to gut him right there and then, but a curse hit the surface of my circle, almost downing it in its wake.  
Damn it, this was nothing to be taken lightly, I had to concentrate my mind on the circle, unless I wanted her to blast my toys to hell. I would take my revenge on Dali for his impertinence later and in form of a few marks owned.  
I didn't knew what Dali had in mind to save both of them, but I clearly wasn't letting Al out of my hands. He would be owning me too. He just had to bear witness to what his own stupidity triggered. I touched his shoulder and drained the line from him; the additional energy went straight to the outline of my circle.

Dali sat cross-legged on the floor, Al in front of him, a strange mirror right between them. I tried to remember the almost blue linings on it, but came away with nothing.  
This was unusually, since my memory of charms was normally flawless. Oh no, my illness wasn't spreading to this part of me too, was it?  
"Sit and touch the glass, mirror my gestures and I mean mirror them, not just doing the same thing. While you do this tap the line. And when I take your mind with me don't resist no matter what. Done wrong this can kill a demon. Do you get that!"  
The old demon briefed Al in on the curse, showing him the gestics to work it.  
Interesting, there exists a curse to travel by mind, without an auras protection, and without hours to spend in the kitchen? Damn, I wanted to get my hands on it.  
The two males were babbling which made me lose interest, and sigh in annoyment. A ripple of energy went right to my core, almost taking me off my feet and worse almost making me drop the line and the circle. I gritted my teeth and realigned the flowed of ever after to make a stable connection again.

"Hurry the fuck up!" I hissed at them. Why were it always males who fucked up important situations like this by unnecessary talk activeness. On the other hand they said, women would be prattling too much, assholes.  
"I swear to kill the demon giving this child access to the database", I growled, was ignored by both of them. Well, sure, of course, if men went all babbling on you, they tent to ignore all cogitative people around them. I snarled again as the next spell hit my protection circle, this time it was more difficult to hold the shield tight.  
I sensed both demons leaving their bodies behind, but I had my hands full with the former witch, redirecting the flowed of the line so the curses never broke through.  
If that child would give me the time to utter one myself I would teach her how stupid it was to mess with Newt, but the girl wasn't giving me a second off.  
The moment a curse left her grasp she began to utter the next, all that was left for me to do was defending or fleeing.

And if I made the decision to run, both demons within my circle would be death. Not that I couldn't live without Al, but Dali on the other hand would be difficult to replace, since he was the courts boss. To complicate matters, if I ran from another demon, female or not, database or not, I would be branded as weak and would never see the end of it, maybe the other demons would team up against their insane ruler, and finish me off.  
The next curse hit, I wobbled and reset the part which had fallen. This was going to end badly, my forehead was covered in sweat, and my breath was coming fast.  
A joist of wood dropped from the ceiling and plumped against my protection bubble, almost making me stumble into my own barrier.  
Good for the three of us that I wasn't all that clumsy, I avoided downing my own circle but I ended up on my ass. The next charm invaded the barrier, slashing through my aura and made me cry out. The circle was still in existence.

What in hells name was that chick using, I didn't know that one. How deep inside the database was she. Damn, if I wanted to stand a change against her, I would have to touch it as well. Images of memories flowed through my mind, green eyes watching me, furious. I was the last one of us still standing and power was seeping from my fingers, strange thoughts invading my own, teaching me what to do with it.  
I shook my head, fuck me over, why was my memory choosing the worsts of timing to come back, there was no time for it now; I was in the middle of a fight.

The next curse hit. This time the circle almost fell, since I started to fell light-headed. Damn, I was a female as well, and I had more knowledge of our arts than Rachel, I ought to do something. Screw Dali and his don't-kill-Rachel-policy, I wasn't gonna end up getting killed by a little kid. I gave myself a bit more to the line, my blood singing with its answer, Rachel was spelling again, but this time I was doing the same, willing a reflection curse unto the circle. She might hit the circle with what the fuck ever, but my bubble would reflect it, since it was a sphere and not a wall it would do damage somewhere else and absolute at random, if I was lucky it would strike right back into her face. If not, well everyone already knew I was insane, and I was not a citizen on this side of the lines. If Rachel wanted to blast her neighbors all to hell, it was fine with me.

She had a ball of black ever after in her hand and threw it at my own curse, I braced myself for the impact and the whole church was shocked by an explosion. The floor jumped at least 10 inches. Rachel almost collided with her own circle, which lay behind her. She snarled at me and made me grin.  
"Don't forget who I am." I said and flipped her the bird. One gesture I had observed from other demons, which went this side of the lines more often.  
The situations they tend to use it in made me guess that it was an insult of some kind. She hissed again and felt silent. My eyes shifted to the two demons in my circle, while I got to my feet. My barrier was still intact, and I was pissed, so there was my moment, the one I had been waiting for, the perfect timing for a counter attack. I began to utter a spell, and Rachel wasn't reacting anymore, it seemed the little seer and his son had found the girl inside the database. Without its knowledge she would be nothing, and as long as she was busy inside of it, I could do pretty much anything to her.

My lips formed a grin which was able to make grown demons run for their mommies, and changed my curse to an aura destruction spell. If I hit her with it, she would be without the line, and almost without an aura, which meant easy prey for the next thing I had in mind.  
She staggered the moment I had the spell ready, I saw the darkness giving way and she was about to fall on her face. The database wasn't fused with her anymore, relieve flowed through me, she was back to easy prey. I didn't needed the destruction spell anymore, but I would hurl it at her anyway, and if only to show that I still had fangs.  
For this I just had to drop the line, letting my circle disspell itself and chuck it at her. About to do so, a shove from behind made me run right into my own barrier. The backslash of ever after seared through my mind and I cried out, taken off guard by its force.  
It wouldn't have been such a bad effect hadn't my own destruction spell not hit my aura in form of the circle. Fuck. I dropped to my knees and let go of the line instantaneous, panting in pain.

Dali was on his feet right next to me, looking me over like he just had as bad a day as I.  
"This was a stupid thing to do, Newt." He said disapprovingly.  
"Did you just made me curse myself, Dali?" I growled at him.  
"Would never think about it," the other demon was grinning at me with menace.  
"You're without an aura Newt, how would you call that, ah yes 'Easy prey'." This so absolutely wasn't good. Dali had hated me for ages, but never lifted a finger to hurt me physical, would this change with me defenseless at his feet?  
My whole body hurted like hell but I was getting to my feet nevertheless, if he was about to finish me off, I would not die without a struggle, and with as much pride intact as possible.  
"Don't you dare, without me; you would have been death thrice over, same goes for your son. You own me for it. Big time." If he was going for my throat now, I would need a resurrection as well.  
"And what are we owning you Newt, what exactly is the price you will demand?"

That wasn't exactly sounding like he wanted me dead at all. I let my eyes shift over the situation. Rachel's circle was down, two walls of the church were missing, half the ceiling was non-existing anymore. A vampire as white as fresh snow starred at a bubble of black ever after, I recognized it as Rachel's. My mind made a quick calculation and my eyes moved back to Dali.  
"Al hustled me into my circle, didn't he?" The other demon shrugged and refused to reply.  
Though he didn't need to, it was making perfect sense. Al seeing his mate about to smash her face in, me short of probably killing her, of course he would act like that.  
But logic was never able to stop me from being pissed at anyone.  
"So, for the payment, Dali you insulted me a great deal as you suggested I couldn't hold a circle against that child. And you made me protect you. This makes two marks for you."  
"For the vampire, she has killed a demon. I demand her soul as a gift."  
"Not done so, she is Rachel's by right of the demon courts."  
"Ah, yes I almost forgot, Rachel of course. She attacked me, she made me curse myself, she tapped into the database without permission, and almost killed us all with that little stunt. Her souls will be mine." Now was finally the time I would get my hands on the last other remaining female, ensuring my status as their queen.

Dali said nothing about this, he either saw no chance to alter my demand, or he had a pretty good plan which he didn't want to spoil before I was done with my mark-allocation.  
Knowing the other demon, I was betting on the later.  
"Your son, got himself killed, which makes on mark for stupidities reasons. He made me protect his dead and living ass, which earned him the second mark. And last but not least he shoved me through my circle, which made me absorbing my own curse. This makes three in total. His soul is mine, too. And since that bitch is Rachel's possession, she will be mine too."  
I had everyone where I want them to be, if I could make it back home alive, that is. The ever after would pull me back at sunup, and I was pretty sure my aura wouldn't survive the trip. Also dear Dali could decide to turn on me, and rip my fucking throat out.  
He smiled at me like I had just offered him his favorite cake; a cringing sensation flowed through me. Dali and a smile like this was a big invitation for trouble.

"I buy all their marks." I eyed him over like he was even more insane than myself, and THAT was not an easy stunt to pull.  
"You can buy only one, since you will bear already two marks of mine. And than your soul would be mine as well, do you want to be mine Dali. Oh… terrific you as my new familiar, wouldn't this be enchanting." I was rubbing my hands; this thought was even able to create a surge of lust, with a force I had never experienced up till now. I licked my lips.  
Dali looked at me with an expression of slightest worry, but he banished it from his eyes pretty fast.  
"No, I buy them all, don't you want to know what I have to offer as an exchange-object."  
There was absolutely nothing in the two worlds what was worth 11 marks at once.  
"There is nothing in the two worlds what's worth 8 or even 11 marks at once, Dali. But I accept you offer to buy one of Algaliarept's marks." I grinned at him, he would be mine, and I would make him my familiar.

Alone the thought made me hot all over, his skills in the arts were unique and it would spare me the act of killing him. I had longed to possess him, since he was pissing me off on each given opportunity, but he was so abiding to the rules, that I never had a chance.  
His gaze went even more worried, but I was absolutely sure it wasn't the three marks he owned me now. There was something else in that look and I wasn't able to identify it, which made me frustrated and angry.  
"So do you want to know what I'm willingly trading for 11 marks?"  
"So tell me then, my new toy." I licked my lips again; a new flash of hotness run through me. Damn, was I lusting after Dali?  
'Newt you must be more damaged in the head than usual.' I told myself, and tried to get rid of that now repulsive feeling. But it proved itself stubborn, fuck!  
If I fell into heat, I was done for, so might be all of demon-kin, since there was no one alive anymore, which I trusted to equal my strength. Maybe Dali could.  
'STOP IT, NEWT!' I reached for the line to invoke the curse lying dormant for occasions like that, and got my chi burnt. I screamed with its force and dropped it.

"Newt don't be silly, you can't make the marks in your condition. Not without doing a bargain first, anyway." Dali reminded me, if he would only have the slightest idea, what was about to go south next.  
"Not the marks, you idiot, they can wait. This one can not, invoke my curse."  
He bent down to me, carrying his scent with him, which hit me in the gut just hard enough to desire it, fuck. I muted something between good swearing and a moan.  
Dali sniffed my purple coat and draw back from me.  
"Newt… you smell like …" For the first time in my whole life, Dali sounded completely horrified. Maybe he was thinking about were this could end, or he came to a conclusion he didn't like.  
"Don't say it. The day has been bad enough, without it. The invocation is 'desineri libido, accube mutate', this or you give me an aura to do it myself. You could also provide your own, but you rather not try that."  
He wasn't reacting and his dilated eyes were showing the effects my hormones were having on him, which in turn made me feel hotter.  
"Dali, do it. The curse I mean, do it. Before it is too late and we are going to regret it."  
I felt a drop in the line and he said the words, which activated the charm to calm ones lust.

It was like a bucket of ice water, and it sent a chill down to the bones, but it left me panting with relieve.  
"Fuck that was a close call." I was curious if Dali would demand a mark for his help, but he wasn't saying so. He probably saw us both even on this one, since he wanted it even less than me.  
"I didn't like that; you didn't do that on purpose, did you?"  
"No, of course not, back to the deal." I wasn't willing to speak about my preferences in men, and even less after this little performance, so I turned back to the business at hand.  
He had no curse to dim his lust, but he got himself under control after a few seconds, which was good. I had two more off them inside of me, but if he would went all male on me, and pushes his luck, we would be done for.  
Instead he smiled like the menace little judge he was and said.  
"What would you pay me to get your memories back?"

I gazed at him, bewildered, wordless and a bit shocked, the little truth about me and his pull was totally forgotten.  
"11 marks for as much of your past as you can stand, plus my protection on the journey."  
"Where did you get my memories from?" It was an exquisite exchange, that bastard, he had known this was the only thing I would do almost everything for, including 11 marks, even including the freedom of his two demon-relatives.  
"You're seeing this robe, don't you? I have been a seer for longer than you're alive, Newt. I don't have to possess your memories, they lay buried in the flux of time, as a seer I can access them and bring them back alive. You will have to travel with me by mind, as Algaliarept just did. This is the reason why you will need my protection, even though I can't protect you from the damage the past will inflict on you."  
"The past can damage one?"  
"Our past is not a light one Newt, and I need at least three days to get my own things straight, I can not be your guardian on a journey while trapped in my own affairs."  
I looked him over, not quite sure what I should think about his offer. Did he knew he would need my past as an exchange object for his son and daughter in law? It would at least explain why he was suggesting to give it back now, damn seer.

I scratched my dome and thought about it, tried to withstand the pull that knowledge had on me, and lost the fight.  
"Deal, 10 marks for the past and one to get me home save, and keeping me save until I have a functioning aura again." He grinned like he had just won the lottery, clapping his hands he turned to the vampireness. I was pretty sure this wouldn't be good for the little pair of demons in their bubble either way, now they weren't owning me anything anymore, but Dali could be as bad a person to own marks to as myself.  
I wasn't sure what his catch in this was, but even as the insane woman I was, he predicted me and already made his deal with them. Maybe while they were trapped in the database.  
The fiery demon walked over to the still starring vampire, which to say it the nice way, looked like she had lost her mind. With a well calculated pull he hurled her to her feet.  
She wasn't standing on her own, which drove Dali to the compulsive act to hold her upright. I was licking my lips, this ought to get interesting, so I walked over to them.

The girl was ignoring him completely, of course he didn't liked that fact much, and he gave her a slap in the face. It made a loud sound and the living vamps eyes turned from the bubble to Dali, only now figuring out that she had an angry demon right in front of her to deal with and a looot of problems.  
"Ivy Alisha Tamwood, for keeping you alive you will bear my mark."  
"You didn't kept me alive; it was … her circle, trapping me."  
"I was the one who brought back Algaliarept, and the one drawing Rachel's attention from you until he was able to reach her. If I had come two minutes later, you would have been death. And if it wouldn't be for the little ones sanity I would kill you right now, but as it is, you're her problem."

She looked at Dali with a big question mark over her head.  
"You killed a demon; this makes you the possession of the murdered one, which is Al, his mate, which is Rachel or the courts." At the last word he pointed at himself, showing big white teeth with a little fang on them. I wasn't quite sure if he always had them, or just let them appear for show.  
"Well, Rachel made use off her rights; your soul belongs to her. So by the laws of the demon society you're hers to take care of. If she take you to the ever after, or leave you here is also her decision. Let me give you a nice piece of advice … for free. Don't kill any demon ever again, and especially not a mated one. You almost fucked both of our worlds to oblivion with it. Look at your nice little church; I hope this demonstration was sufficient enough. In any case you should ask Al for a brief-in on demon instincts, before you cause the next mayhem. Also I would suggest you apologize for killing him, he might make it less expensive this way."  
The vampire was slowly getting angry, if the black eyes were any indication for her mood.

Dali reached for her chest and draw a bloody line, jerking her finally completely awake. She lifted her hand and slapped our court leader right on the cheek, which made him laugh out loud and dark.  
He got right into her face, pressing her to the rest of the wall she was standing in front of.  
"Not afraid of demons, I see little vampireness. I like that. May I ask Rachel for a night with you?" His grin was old school scaring, he licked his own lips and reminded my of the way he had affected my a few minutes ago. I shook my head.  
Ivy was pushing at his chest but it wouldn't get a horny male off ones back, there were only a few things able to do that, and physical strength was none of them, since it was their domain. He touched the part of her chest which was meant to be spelled into his mark with his fingers and sent a bold of line through it, invoking it.

"Get the fuck away from me; I don't want a freaking demon-mark!"  
He licked his fingers clean, displaying an utter facial expression of bliss; even I wasn't sure if he truly felt that way, or if he was just doing it to tick off that Ivy. A slightest pull of jealousy went through me and was gone the moment I noticed it.  
"Well, too late I would say my little Miss fangs. If you want to pay that one off ..." He pointed at the bloody circle bisected by one slash of blood.  
"… give me a call. I run by the name of Dallkarackint."  
The demon turned back to me, offering me his arm.  
"May we leave the children to there own games now?" He was as pleased as a cat, and as far as I knew the vampire was the first mortal to receive his summoningname.  
I grinned in return, and took his arm, and off we went.

* * *

Hi there, I never thought I would end up with writing a whole chapter out of Newts view. She wasn't all that crazy in it, maybe because she had something to focus her thoughts onto, something she wasn't able to forget so fast, since it was annoying.

What are Rachel and Al doing in their circle, and how is Ivy taking all that.


	15. A broken soul

**A demoness awakens XV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part fiveteenth of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction (**Taming ones lust**) to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head.  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Ivy / Rachel / Dali / Newt / Rachel / Jenks  
**Summary:** Ivy killed a demon, and bears witness while her live is been ripped apart around her by her best friend and love, but what is she thinking, how will this affect her. Who will she turn to for help, now that Rynn is out of the picture. What will happen to our lovely vampire now after she received a mark from Dali.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XV : _A broken soul_  
**

**- Ivy -**  
I came back to myself the moment I sensed the wood going through his heart. Somewhere inside my mind I refused that it could be that easy to kill a demon.  
His blood reeked of burnt amber, the typical demon scent. I half expected him to go misty on me and kill me in turn for this try. But nothing happened, the weight on the wood increased and I withdraw it from the wound. He dropped like a wet sack; I wasn't able to hear any pulse or breathing with my sharpened senses. This one was dead for real unless there was some stupid magic which would give him nine lifes like a cat.  
A stream of joy flowed through me. Rachel was free of him, finally she could get her life back, she could stay this side of the lines, together with me.  
Now she wasn't bound to him anymore, which meant I would take her right over his cooling body. Making her my scion, hell I have waited long enough.

I let my sight find Rachel's face, expecting her to thank me, but the first thing I registered was the black eyes, and the smell of burnt amber which was coming from her.  
A little thread of worry broadened inside of me.  
"Rachel your eyes are black," I never had seen her so pissed; she reached with her whole hand for the band of silver, and gave it a hard ripping. Damn what was she doing, her other hand was broken, the one with the silver on it.  
"Stop it!" This was utterly shocking and I dropped my weapon, I was halfway over to her, as her thumb came off together with the silver, she had maimed herself because of that thing. Because she wanted the silver off that badly.  
Nausea rose inside of me, as all the emotions hit me at once. Worry about her body and mind, fear for her sanity and the imagination about how much pain this must be causing her. Why was she doing this to herself?  
Her face betrayed nothing of it; instead she was slowly walking into my direction, which together with her fury made me even more careful.

A voice shook me out of my starring, it was a black and white dusting Jenks.  
"It looks like you're dead twice Ivy, grab the wood and attack before she has time to utter a spell."  
I couldn't believe this was coming from him; he loved her maybe as much as I did, what had happened to us since we summoned Rachel. She turned up as a demon, Ceri's temper tantrum, her problem with hallowed ground, with the sun, finally my attack and now Jenks?  
How could this be real? Maybe I was just sleeping and would wake up from this nightmare pretty soon. Whatever, I wasn't going to assault Rachel again, to be true I was pretty shocked at my reaction to her bound. Well, the culprit was dead on the floor; she had as much a chance against him as I with Piscary. So it was not her fault.  
"The little man is right; you dared to take what's mine. I will ripe you apart, your soul is mine, and I will stuff it back into your twice dead body so you will rot while bearing witness to it." This came almost completely as a snarl out of her mouth, I was gazing at her as she seeped darkness, her hair moved in the wind of the ever after.  
She has been a spooky person each time she messed with the lines, and her being a demon wasn't making it any less scaring.

My mind made sense of the words she just spoke, and she didn't sounded anything like a freed victim, or a grateful friend, she sounded incredible pissed, like she was the guilty party and not the dead demon on the floor.  
"Rachel …" I would never admit it out loud but I was at the brink of panic, Rachel never caused that feeling inside of me, not so pure anyway.  
"She freed you of that demon!" Jenks tried to lend a hand.  
"I didn't wanted to be free of him or I would have killed him on my own. I don't need a vampires help for it."  
I looked her over, was she brain-damaged, was she even Rachel, or was there another demon woman, beside that Newt I had never seen. According to Ceri and Rachel this one was insane as hell, and maybe she had taken Rachel's frame and was now standing in our kitchen. I took back a step as the Rachel-person draw more of the line inside of her, I hadn't seen her doing it like that.  
Rachel would have never spoken about killing others like that, and she would never degrade me to a mere vampire, but she would also never choose Al over me.

Before I knew what was happening something threw me back, onto the floor. My teeth hurt with the impact on it and my vision swam in colors. Rachel must have thrown a spell at me. The woman knew that I didn't liked her magic, but she was using it anyway.  
She was slowly coming over and this grin on her face was the worst thing I had ever seen, something what could be described as purely demonic and absolutely not Rachel-like.  
I was too frightened to move, so Jenks interfered again and tried to reason with her.  
"She killed my mate, she killed what was mine, she dared to lay hands on me. It's not your fault, so don't stand between me and my prey. Get your family and bring as much distance between them and me as you can."  
Her voice didn't even sounded like Rachel anymore, and what was this about mate and prey? I was a living vampire for fucks sake; I wouldn't be anyone's prey, not even Rachel's.  
Beside I made the decision that this couldn't be our Rachel. On the other hand as she had kicked Ceri in the face and nearly killed her, our auras had mixed. She was the only person who ever did that with me. Was the witch, witch-demon, demon … damn this was confusing the hell out off me. Was she as trapped inside her instincts as a vampire?

"Fight me if you dare to." She tilted her head to the side and licked her lips, while moving her hand into my direction. I wasn't sure what she was doing, but I rolled to the side and evaded a powerful explosion, the wall blew into the garden. Oh shit, this was no game anymore, if I hadn't dodged that I would have been dead.  
I crawled over to the island corner, searching for a weapon, where was Rachel's damn splat gun. Sleep time potions were working on undead vampires, so it might work on pissed demons as well.  
"Rachel, come back to yourself." I tried to remember her of herself again; sometimes it helped to call the lost ones by their name. Most of the time, it was working on me.  
"Back to myself? Funny little vampireness, you destroyed that. I let the witch-life interfere with my demon-life, and now look at Algaliarept. See what my weak heart has done to him."  
I fell silent at that, what was this anyway, she used his whole name like it was dear to her, and it sounded like she regretted his decease. It was totally confusing me.  
"He is the demon who almost killed you, a lot of times."

"So what's the problem, you almost killed me before, remember Kisten's van?"  
My breath stopped and I bite my lip, piercing it with my sharp fangs. She was right; I almost killed her more then once as well. And she hadn't left me for it; she even gave me her blood after the incident. That she mentioned it was below the lowest, she had to know it would hurt me like hell, and I even thought this was her intention.  
Some Latin was voiced and it ended with the trigger word of an instant-circle, a black sheet trapped me. I gulped and finally fond the splat gun, time to turn the tables.  
"What the hell are you doing?" I distracted her to take a better aim.  
"Making sure this is a one on one my dear Ivy Alisha Tamwood." Rachel hissed and it sounded strange that she called me with all three names, only my mother, Piscary and Al had ever done so.  
I stood up to face the demon in front of me, raising the weapon almost in a kind of trance and shot.  
"Idiot!" The red haired woman dropped to the floor, vanishing out of my eyesight, I must have missed since the circle was still intact.

My grip at the weapon shifted slightly and I rounded the corner to take aim at the demoness in hiding, only to catch sight of a dark lurking shadow there, a spell missed me by pure luck and blew away another part of the wall. It broke her circle since her curse was carrying her aura. This one wouldn't work without a plan, I grasped one of her cooking books and threw it over the top corner, a charm hit it right on and it burst into flames, I rolled around the corner and shot, only to have the paint ball vanishing inside that strange darkness. Another spell flew my way and was difficult to evade since I was still in motion. Somehow I managed it, even if part of my clothes were singed now; they were better off when the wall behind me.  
Some fingers snatched me and lifted me off the ground, the next prove that she couldn't be Rachel. The witch didn't possess so much body strength. I took aim and lost the splat gun because of the epileptogen pain which left me gasping. She was doing the same thing to me that she had done to Ceri, if I had to take a guess; she was channeling a line through me.

It hurted like hell, I was about to pass out and hit the floor, hard and head first. A few moments ticked by and the pain receded, my vision swam back to usable.  
The first thing I registered after my come back, was the sheet of almost black circle around me, the ever after was bound to the etched circle I had drawn almost two years ago. The second thing was three demons in the living room. One was laying, it had to be Al, one was kneeing and one was standing, the other two demons were unknown to me.  
"Get away from Algaliarept." Rachel demanded, like she owned the place, in some kind of way she did, but this were demons, over 5000 years' old ones. Even with her upgrade to full demon she would be lacking skill and experience. Somehow I doubted that they would like her attacks much. She was about to get herself killed. When would Rachel stop that annoying habit?  
On the other hand they were surrounded by the blackest sheet of ever after I had ever seen, and they seemed to be ignoring Rachel's anger completely. They talked to each other while she threw curse after curse at them. The shadows around Rachel had vanished and were now replaced by black tentacles, giving her a new meaning of scariness. I trembled alone from the sight of it, and she wasn't aiming her anger at me, for the time being. I had to get out of her.

I looked over to the demons, two were standing now and the third was getting to his feet. I couldn't believe my eyes, I thought he was dead? Al had to be dead, I killed him! How was he able to stand up, I was absolutely fucking sure I had freaking murdered him. How was that possible, could demons turn undead as well? God, I hated them!  
My eyes shifted back to Rachel, she appeared even more furious than before, throwing curses with both her hands so she could switch them, doing one spelling while she hurled the already invoked one at their circle. What the hell had Al been teaching her on their Saturday in the ever-after? Normally I would be screaming at her to stop that, but it looked like she was keeping them busy just fine, and I really didn't want that's attention on me.  
A detonation threw me almost off my feet, which made me slowly receding into my cover, no I didn't wanted her throwing this stuff at me; her circle would break as soon as her aura would touch the sheet of protection around me.  
The world was laden with burnt amber and the darkest magic you could sense this side of the lines, not that I had anything to compare that too.

Fear spread through me like an infection, I had to run, had to take cover, had to warn the surrounding people, this was bad. I never had thought Rachel could go this homicidal on anyone, but it looked like it didn't matter to her anymore whom she was reducing to ashes as long as she could kill someone  
If I was lucky the three demons would be her first victims, but somehow I doubted she would stop at that. I had to break her circle, my fingers slipped into my back pocket fingering for my cell phone, and finally finding it.  
I had Glenn on speed-dial and since Ceri was pissed and maybe a fresh mother, Trent's number wasn't in my phone and Rynn was part of the problem, he was the only one left, I could call. Also he was inderlander specialist of the FIB, the human run equivalent to the IS.  
A new bang of magic went wild and hit the ceiling, bursting it to little pieces.  
I cowered next to the island corner hiding from my former friend and shivering from anxiety, somehow that murder on Al hadn't been that good an idea after all.

"Hi Ivy …," his voice filtered through the speaker of my cell phone, flowing me with relief.  
"Glenn," damn I sounded like I was crying, and with a touch to my cheeks I noted that I was. My current boyfriend fell silent, waiting for whatever bomb I would drop on his free time parade.  
"Rachel went insane, she is demon, she is ripping the church apart. Rynn ordered me to bind her, she … she has something… had something with Al… the demon. She slept with him, she is bond to him. I killed him… killed Al… killed the freaking demon bastard… and he is standing again… how is that fucking possible… "  
"Ivy?" He sounded concerned at his best, this was his voice he used for people that have been in very traumatic situations and had to be calm down. Damn, was I sounding this much hysteric?  
"There are three more demons in my living room. I'm trapped in Rachel's circle. She is throwing curses around like stones. She blew up the wall and the ceiling… and …"  
A second much more powerful detonation made my tip over my own feet and I fell to the ground, just in time to be missed by the magic which reduced the second wall to crumbs. That her spell must have missed me by nearly 5 meters didn't even occurred to me.  
"Glenn evacuate the surrounding areas, it could be that she is going to kill everything around us, with the four of us in the middle."

I felt the absolute calmness of my blood take me in the moment I became aware of the truth behind my words. All emotions drained out of my voice, out of me. It was a sensation like turning undead; at least I was thinking that losing ones soul would feel like this. The undeads had the ability to separate themselves off anything emotional which wasn't instinct, and given enough time and reason even they were no challenge anymore.  
Was my soul breaking because of all that pressure this riots around me were causing; was my soul breaking because of Rachel's betrayal, her turning into this world's worst nightmare. Would I have to kill my first and only true love to save us all, and if so, how should I manage that?  
Two demons on one day, would she come back alive as well, would she turn undead, as Al did? Did Al?

"Ivy, talk to me! Are you okay? I sent a squad car over. Ivy!" He was worried sick, I on the other hand had totally forgotten about my conversation with him.  
"I'm fine."  
"Don't bullshit me, you sound too much in control for it, don't oppress your feelings."  
"I think my soul just broke. And one squad car is not going to evacuate the environment fast enough; plus against an angry demon it's totally useless. Do you remember Al running amok this side of the lines in Lee's body? This one is in her own body… just make sure there will be no innocent bystanders to suffer."  
He felt utterly silent at that, maybe at the loss of words; the circle dispelled itself with an almost audible pop. I was free again, still sitting on the floor, but not seeing any reason to get up.

My eyes shifted to Rachel, which was falling and got catched by Al. The demon looked like shit, furious like the devil, worried like he truly cared and totally not like the omnipotent demon he presented himself to be. If Rachel was dead now I would fellow her, if she wasn't I had no hope left for her anymore. I would never get her back, not after what she had done to the church and to her life. I gave the whole thing half an hour and the coven would be banging at my door, demanding her in silver chains while straight running into a herd of demons. If she started an open war with the coven, I wondered who would win, and if it would be a good or a bad thing.  
"Ivy, hey Ivy…" Glenn's voice drifted through the otherwise deadly silence which was encompassing me, but I had no energy left to answer him anymore.  
My Rachel was in the demon's arms again, she screamed and hit his chest like she was fighting him off, but her aura rose with the circle she invoked, trapping them both.  
Separating me from them, even if I could muster the strength to get up, there was no hope.

"I will be there in five minutes top, stay put Ivy and don't do anything reckless, do you hear me… shit she's not talking… God I hope she's still alive."  
"Alive…" I whispered and had to laugh with the sudden outburst of hysterical energy.  
Well I wasn't so sure I hadn't died of a broken heart. Was this even possible?  
Al snatched my Rachel's hair and it sent the first emotion through me I had had in the last few minutes, or hours, jealousy. The demon held her head straight, his lips ravishing hers, and she let out a little moan while she kicked him right were it hurt.  
He on the other hand snarled and pushed her down; she hissed but otherwise wasn't fighting him. Something seemed to pass between them and she went limp beneath him, now tearing at the remains of his laced shirt, drawing him to her, and she started wailing at his chest.  
More envy came over me, envy because he had my dearest, envy because she had someone and I was alone and would end up alone, I had not chosen a scion and the undead had problems to find some affection for others than themselves.

Someone seized me by my sweater and got me to my feet. I on the other hand wanted to remain sitting. There was no damn reason to stand up, no hope left at all, my soul was gone, I was undead, and now my whole life would be reduce to blood.  
A loud clap echoed from the walls and a sharp pain erupted in my right cheek, I hadn't even thought about wasting my energy to look up the person holding me upright. It fucking hurted and my eyes were turning black with the desire to rip apart whoever just did this.  
"Ivy Alisha Tamwood, for keeping you alive you will bear my mark."  
The smell of burnt amber hit me right in the gut, and his red goat-slitted eyes leveled on me.  
A mark, for one person who had no soul anymore, well I wanted to see him try that one. I bared my fangs on him and hissed.  
"You didn't kept me alive, it was … her circle, trapping me."  
The demon in front of me grinned at me and said, while he was coming farer into my personal space: "I was the one who brought back Algaliarept, and the on drawing Rachel's attention from you until he was able to reach her. If I had come two minutes later, you would have been death. And if it wouldn't be for the little ones sanity I would kill you right now, but as it is, you're her problem."

He brought back Al, so demons weren't turning into undead ones. But how could they bring back dead people. Pierce came to my mind and I looked at the demon in front of me, he was brought back alive as well. Did I pointed out that I hate that fucking demons?  
"You killed a demon…"  
And how many peoples had Al killed in his 5000 years of familiar enslaving business? How many summoners had perished because of him? And that demon was blaming me because I proved that they weren't invincible?  
"This makes you the possession of the murdered one, which is Al, his mate, which is Rachel or the courts."  
The courts? Demons have courts? I remembered Rachel telling me about Al's indictment due to "uncommon stupidity". And he was the one in charge of them, which would make him Dali. He bared fangs at me, which sent a chill down my spin, but otherwise wasn't affecting me much.

"Well, Rachel made use off her rights." And this meant?  
"Your soul belongs to her." Which soul you moron, I have turned undead, seams like he hadn't gotten the latest news. On the other hand I wasn't entirely sure on it either. If I still hold my soul, it would stay mine!  
"So by the laws of the demon society you're hers to take care of." He could turn himself for all I cared, why was I bound to listen to his babble. I wanted to fall into a big hole and forget everything, or even better to wake up from this nightmare, with the sun still shining, with Rachel smiling at me in her usually manner, coffee cup in her hands.  
"If she take you to the ever after, or leave you here is also her decision." Why should I want to go with her into the ever-after? Why should she take me there and why was he wasting my time?  
"Let me give you a nice piece of advice … for free. Don't kill any demon ever again, and especially not a mated one." Like it would do any good if you assholes were able to bring them back anyway!  
"You almost fucked both of our worlds to oblivion with it." And of course it was my fault, shit fucking demons. If Al would have left his mitts where they belonged this would have never happened.

"Look at your nice little church." He was spreading his arms to give his words more meaning. For the first time I looked at the result of Rachel's outburst and was quite shocked so much destruction.  
"I hope this demonstration was sufficient enough. In any case you should ask Al for a brief-in on demon instincts, before you cause the next mayhem." Arrogant bastard, all demons seemed to be the same way!  
"Also I would suggest you apologize for killing him, he might make it less expensive this way." I was able to take everything in with my new strange calmness but the last just did it. I should apologize for killing him. Was this Dali fucking insane! I would never offer an excuse to the one who stolen my love and hope. NEVER … EVER!

A new pain jerked me out of my rage and brought me to look at my chest. It took me a few blinks to get what he had done there. He had wounded me and I slapped his hand away, right before I hit him in the face, screw the results, demon or not this was clearly going too far. He even laugh right into my face, damn I hated them, hated them all, I wanted to rip his throat out.  
I was about to kick him in the balls but he was a little faster and pressed me into the wall, the rest of it anyway.  
His stink of burnt amber made it difficult to breathe, how could they stand their own smell? It was disgusting!  
"Not afraid of demons, I see little vampireness. I like that. May I ask Rachel for a night with you?" Oh damn, I hadn't only gotten a demon on my ass, it had to be a perverted one, the only thing to makes this even more perfect would have been the insane One on top of the cake. Sugar, cream and blood for the vampire.  
I had to get that pervert away from me, so I pushed with all my vampiric strength against his chest, but he wasn't moving in any direction.

He on the other hand smirked and touched my wound; magic ran through me, made me gasp because of it. Suddenly it came to my mind what he had been talking about, a mark, a demon-mark. He wanted me to own one. I had searched the net, and this according to the summoners was how it would feel like. Peachy.  
"Get the fuck away from me; I don't want a freaking demon-mark!"  
He licked his fingers clean, his face twisted in something I would describe as the passion of tasting delicious blood. I felt nausea rose inside of me.  
"Well, too late I would say my little Miss fangs."  
'Little Miss fangs?' Why the hell was that demon giving me a nickname, according to each magic using person I had ever met they were name-obsessed and would never call a person with less than their full name, assuming they knew it. Well unless you're one of them, pretty close to it or their familiar, I was none of that. His finger almost touched the bloody circle with the slash through it again. A demon-mark, I sensed the shock coming up.

"If you want to pay that one off … give me a call. I run by the name of Dallkarackint."  
The demon said and offered his arm to a bald childlike demon with black eyes. I starred at that hell's citizen in utterly shock. Rachel had given me a description resembling this appearance, twice and if it wasn't a demon messing with my head… I was standing right in front of … NEWT. The demon everyone seemed to fear, even the demons themself, the one who blasphemed the curch almost a year ago, Newt the only female demon, the insane ruler of the ever after. Oh SHIT!  
I slipped down to the floor, touching my new demon-mark … Dallkarackint, suddenly glad it hadn't been that Newt touching me, branding me with her mark.  
I starred at the remains of the kitchen utterly disconnected to my surroundings as the door to the front of the church brusted down and at least 10 people in dark FIB uniforms came barging in. So Glenn was arriving together with his division. All weapons took aim for the black circle.

* * *

It was quite a piece of work to get Ivy's point of view down in one chapter, I hope she is not all that much OOC even if I fear that. The first time I tried to begin with her becoming aware of Rachel's bound to Al, but this one refused to work, so I started with the moment she came back out of her rage.

How are they going to deal with the new people adding to the mess and to Ivy's state of mind?


	16. About Mates

**A demoness awakens XVI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part sixteenth of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head.  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Glenn & his team  
**Summary:** Rachel is back in reality having a honest talk with her demon, she discovers Ivy's state of mind and wants to help her, the police barged in on them and honestly the human-run FIB tries to arrest two demons. How this might end up and how many people have to die for it is another question?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XVI: _About Mates_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
I sensed a second drop in the line; a feminine howl came from an unpointable direction. Two circles fell almost in unison.  
My world swam in colors and structures, I lost control over my body, going down I braced myself for the impact, in case I should be able to feel something through the spreading numbness. But my fall stopped, I became aware of the arms which were holding me, pressing me into a chest. And with the warmth came a scent.  
Demon, male … Al … mine, he was alive.  
Total relief floated me, and I couldn't pinpoint were it came from. He smelled of his own blood, and the memory came back, all at once: Ivy killing him, Dali appearing with Newt in toe, me losing it trying to off them all, the strange structure of the demon database, the deals to avoid losing our souls to Newt or Dali.  
I had sold my unborn daughter off to a demon, for Al, for myself. I was one of them, and I didn't wanted to be calm, I wanted to feel panic and disgust. I was a monster, and he was at fault for this.

I started screaming, trying to fight him off, something touched my aura, my soul and I sensed the line running trough me.  
Will, which wasn't my own hold the circle around us firm.  
"What the hell are you doing?" I hissed at him.  
He capture my hair, bending down and fastened his lips onto mine, while a part of him touched my soul again, this time not to use my as a vessel for his cast but to communicate.  
'Newt is here, Dali is here, and I don't want to give your vampire a second chance on my life.'  
'Asshole,' and for once my instinct and my little inconsiderable mind shared the same intention. I kicked him right where it hurt, making sure there would never be a daughter to sell off. Well, coming to a better understanding about demons, they probably had a curse for this little problem as well. But it can't hurt to try, could it? At least it wasn't hurting me.

Al groaned in pain and pinned me to the floor, still holding the circle, still running it through me. If he would have done so before this last horrible days, I would have lost it in a big panic attack, now it almost felt right, which was all sooo wrong.  
He snarled down on me while I hissed back up. It didn't felt strange to lay beneath this demon, where were no fear and I didn't know why I trusted him with my life, even after kicking his balls. Al's hand on my wrist and his soul touching mine just simply felt right.  
I starred up into his red goat-slitted eyes and somehow relaxation was coming over me, something about him told me he would keep me save. The confusion gave way and the whole meaning of the last two days hit me in the guts. All at once was a little to much, even for my practiced set of mind.  
Out of pure instinct I grabbed Al's shirt and draw him down on me, putting my face to the expensive fabric and started crying. Why the hell was I crying at his chest? He was the last person who should see me wail, he was a demon for fucks sake.  
But even this thought didn't stop me; his fingers passed through my hair and were gently untangling my red mane. Somehow this little unusual display of endearment calmed some of the pain which was exploding inside of me.

'I'm sorry for getting myself killed, but you shouldn't have done that.' He said with disapprovement in his voice.  
'Doing what?' Al refused to answer me; he just touched my broken hand, which made me hiss in agony. Our eyes locked on each other again.  
'You maimed yourself to save me from her, and your pain made me concern for your life more than for my own. I was careless.' He said and I could sense the truth behind his words.  
'Oh, I didn't know you even cared about that, you left me alone with Mia, a banshee with almost no aura, and no defense at all. And now you try to go all cornball on me. Who are you shiting here?' Oh yes, this was something I wanted to throw at his face anyway, and now when he would listen without smacking me across the room was the perfect time for it.  
'You don't get it. What it means to be a student to a demon. You have to be able to protect yourself against this small fishes to play with the big ones.'  
'So and what exactly got you killed just now?' Oh this ought to be a good one. If I had to set a ranging between living vampires and banshees, the later ones were more dangerous for sure, so much for his little-fish-theory.

'Normally both would be no match for me, but you had to break your hand. You just experience what it means to lose a mate. All that pain.' I was about to deny his argumentation, but he seized my chin turning it around to face the church, the rests of it anyway. I gulped and looked at Al, shaking my head. Shock was running through me and it felt cold wherever it touched.  
'No, that… couldn't have been me.'  
'Yes it was, even if you were running on instinct at the time. You never felt any pain from the missing thumb, did you? I can tell you why.' Maybe it wasn't hurting then but I started to feel it now. I kept my silence so he would stop talking no-sense and would start to make his point.  
'You thought I was lost, stolen from your side, gone for good. And you experienced pain like never before, since it feels like one is breaking your soul apart. Right?'

I swallowed hart, but refused to reply in any way. I might have been able to control my thoughts but my feelings were skipping right into panic. My breath came fast and uneven, he touched my cheek and his scent invaded my body, a shudder ran through me, pulling a bit of sexual excitement with it.  
'Shh… Rachel, stay calm don't panic. This is an absolute normal reaction.'  
'Normal? Al, I hated you and I still do so. You're a slave trader, an ass, arrogant beyond believe, you abuse your familiars, you tried to kill me, you tried to cart my friends off to the ever-after and you went for my mother as I proved to be too difficult a task for you. The only reason why I wanted you as a teacher…'  
I sounded like something between a hysterical person and a loather; he raised a finger to touch my lips.  
'You wanted to save Trenton Aloysius Kalamack from slavery, I know Rachel.' The demon said without any anger in his words. Why was he so fucking composed?  
'Why, why… I don't understand. Why should I feel anything about your death, much less going berserk because of it? Shouldn't I be dancing full of joy, because I would get back my Saturdays? And I would have the demons out of my hair too.'

'No you wouldn't, Newt would sue for teaching-rights and after this she would come over to snatch you and all your days would have been wasted.'  
'I know,' the demon was right about this, and I knew it, no discussion there.  
'But this doesn't answers the question, why I went insane, destroyed my home, tried to murder my friends. Why can I feel this conflicted about you?'  
'What do you think I'm feeling? Before you bound us I would have enjoyed each situation that was able to make you injure yourself this much. I would have liked all the pain it causes you, I would have laved in your despair. I would have even tried to amplify it, making it worse. And now I get killed because you hurt yourself, which to my excuse I wasn't aware off until I checked.'  
I shook my head; Al was still Al, the dangerous demon and cocky bastard I met, but where was the old Rachel? I growled at him.  
'It's normal, absolutely normal. Demons are wicked creatures, we enjoy pain, we enjoy to best each other, and if we can destroy others, we do; the more completely the better. With each data we get we become more hazardous to the concerned persons.'

'This is not exactly soothing me.' I replied dryly.  
'You can imagine that it would be pretty severe to form families this way, don't you?'  
I looked at him pretty dumb folded.  
'So the survival of the demon-race was always a ticklish topic. This is the reason why our females got the power to bind us males. The way of nature to ensure cooperation between two demons; who in case of childbirth had to work together. Believe me you don't want to be a single parent to a demon-child.'  
'All well and good, but I will not bear any child of yours, or any other man for that matter.'  
Al grinned, and let his finger travel down from my cheek to the place between my breasts, which made my breath coming faster.  
'You may not want to, but your instincts have other ideas, beside we have to do our part of the deal or our souls will be forfeit.'  
'I hate demons!' I said with feelings, only getting the meaning of his words a few seconds later, which made me go ashen.

'No Al! No, absolutely, totally, thousand percently, NO! And my instincts can go and turn themself for all I care.' The demon had seduced me, but he would not get me pregnant!  
I tried to get him away from me, pushing at his chest, which was delightful muscled.  
'I still hate you!' I whimpered faintly as he kissed the part he just touched with his sinful lips, wearing this god-damn smirk on his face.  
'AL!' I snarled, but it left me longing for his touch.  
'You bastard, get away from me! NOW!' I hissed, and there it was again, the line pulsed through me in tact with my anger and I sent it straight into the demon above me, this time to get him off of me.  
He screamed and it burnt him, I was able to feel the echo of his pain, which made me drop the line, apart from the stream which was holding the circle around us. Al almost jumped back and looked sallow himself, his control over the circle burst into pieces, leaving us bare to the world.

"This was uncalled for, itchy witchy! Damn that hurts."  
I looked him over, how could this little bit of energy hurt him so much, I had channeled much more through him yesterday… in his bedroom. Damn, why did I have to blush now?  
"Easy, because I've been resurrected. Take a closer look on my aura." And so I opened myself to the second sight, looking for his aura, which was almost as thin as Glenn's after he had been aura-stripped by a banshee.  
Unbidden worry gathered inside of me. Fuck, why wasn't I able to control my emotions anymore.  
"Yes, Rachel this is the drawback of the bond, we feel each other's pains and we worry for the other's safety that is what got me killed in the first place. Nice to be on the receiving end, isn't it?" He grinned at me, but it was somewhat a hollow gesture, since I could feel that he didn't liked it any better than me.

I gripped my hair and pulled it out of my eyes.  
"This is not funny, Al." I looked at the church taking in all the damage I had caused.  
"How, did I… ?" He smiled.  
"You used curses from the database, pretty powerful ones." He was some kind of proud about this.  
"This is nothing to be proud off, look at my church!" I screamed at him, but he only laugh at my outburst.  
"You made Newt work for her safety; I would say this is something to boast about, especially for someone as young as you."  
I looked him up? Was he going crazy as well? Newt wouldn't like that, and her insaneness would take me apart for it. I was about to give him some very improper comment to his speech, but this moment my eyes discovered Ivy. She leaned against the remains of one wall; the splat gun laid next to her, as well as her cell phone.

I forgot all about Al and our conflict. Ivy didn't look good; her black hair was almost grey with all the dust from the wall, a few shades of red mixed in from the bricks, her brown eyes looked lifeless. I was halfway over to her as someone jumped me from behind, causing me to hit the floor hard.  
"Police, freeze right there you're!" My eyes drove to Al, my demon lay next to me, the island corner was keeping us out of sight and he was facing the kitchen entrance with an unknown worry in his faces lines.  
"What's this for?" I asked him, while he touched me, his hand hold on to my ankle.  
"Grab your vampire!" He said.  
"Hell, no…" I didn't know what he was planning, but knowing Al, it couldn't be all that good.

"Fuck, Rachel"  
'I'm pretty defenseless here, and if there is anyone with a trigger-happy finger in their party I could … we both could be goners for real.' He sounded worried. Interesting this was a demon cut from the lines. Something in me was grinning as I remembered the way I had faced him down, angry as he was with no aura and no ley lines backing me up. So there was something I was better with than his 5000 year old assness, even if it only was being helpless and enduring it proudly.  
'Maybe it's better… for the world I mean look at the church.'  
'Rachel Marianna Morgan, if you ever talk or think like that again I will kick your damn ass so hard you get a one-way-ticket to the moon. Only because the world throws ugly stones your way does not mean… SHIT!'  
We were starring at four FIB officers, surrounding us, weapons out and pointed at us.  
"No one moves!" I remembered the young woman standing over there, blond short hair, brown eyes, slim figure. I gulped, this was not the usually trouble I got myself into. Normally it was the IS facing me down with spells and zip-strips.

"Both of you put this on!" I heard Glenn's totally pissed voice as he threw the two pairs of charmed silver handcuffs at us. My scream echoed from the remaining walls as some of my aura was drained from me. The humans slipped my perception, while my eyes aligned on Al. I growled at him, pissed, how dares he. I protected the rests of my aura while I had the urge to slay him.  
'What's mine is yours, what's yours is mine. I need it, and I will give it back as soon as we reach the other side.' He tried to pacify me; my inner self wasn't at all winding down.  
He touched the line, touched the circle and it flared alive. Someone pulled the trigger and the bullet was reflected by the sheet of black separating us from the outside world.  
I was rising from the floor.  
"How dare you to lay hands on my aura demon!" I hissed, while he looked at me something between solicitude and relief.  
"You're mine, and I would be a very bad male if I would leave you to protect yourself." I raised an eyebrow.  
"Since than did I need someone else to protect me, I'm fine on my own!"

"Sure thing, Rachel. That must be the reason why you ran from one trouble to the next, starting with your independent runner service your life has been a constant problem, ending with you getting shunned. If it hadn't been for the runt and Newt's hand in it you would have died at least twice last week!" Oh this was pissing me off, I was going for his throat but at least I wasn't chucking curses at him.  
"Excuse me!" Glenn screamed and fired a shot at us. Even with the sheet between us this was very startling.  
Both off us looked at him, and suddenly I felt tired.  
"Not you as well," so Ceri, Ivy and Glenn, what was next my mother, brother, Jenks? A tear fell from my cheek and I sank to the floor, leaning at the island corner.  
"Not you as well, please!" The police officer dangled with the two silver bracelets.  
"Put this on Rachel." I shook my head and Al kneed beside me touching my shoulder.

My sight shifted to him, and he let his hand wander to my cheek.  
"It will be ok."  
"Okay? He is the third one of my friends… why does everyone wants to kill me… Al?"  
I hated the weakness creeping into my voice and he embraced me, which cause a new crying fit. My demons eyes turned to Glenn and I knew his eyes were glowing, he was pissed.  
"Leave us the fuck alone; put away your weapons and these things. Those stupid toys have caused enough trouble."  
"I'm not kidding, you will be carted off by the IS or worse the coven if you don't come with us." The black man said, emitting balance, almost making me trust him, he had protected me from the IS a few times already.  
"We are demons; I want to see them try that. Look at the church. She is at her most instable right now, and as long as this condition does not fade, Rachel will be with me."  
"You're Al, her demon; the one Ivy said she killed?"  
His body tensed under my touch.  
"Yes I'm Al." It didn't slipped my notice that Al refused to answer the second question, neither was he fooling Glenn.

"What have you done to Rachel's hand, and to Ivy, she is not responsive."  
I came to myself in a sudden rush, almost springing to my feet to look her over. Al hold on to me.  
"Let me go, let me go… I need to take a look at Ivy… God she isn't dead is she?"  
I was crying again, this time I didn't hide it behind Al's chest, since I was fighting him.  
Glenn watched us with wary.  
"No, she's alive at least her body is."  
"NOO, she hasn't turned undead, has she?" I screamed and the line answered me with a pulse. It caused an uncomfortable burning on my skin, but otherwise it was bearable.  
Al grasped me and pinned me to the island corner, his eyes trapping mine.  
"Don't do it again. It's no ones fault, and don't lose it before you got well-proven facts. It could also be due to a shock. Shhh … Rachel."  
I sensed his annoyment in his voice; he was irritated because of my mood-changes.  
"I killed her." I voiced almost soundless.  
"Well proven facts, Rachel. One which holds powers has to make sure before acting."

"It was never that difficult to speak with you, Rachel, Al could you please shut up and let me talk to Rachel." The other man said which brought the demons attention back to him.  
"Excuse me for having the mind to avert a female's panic attack. You never witnessed one; believe me you don't want to, they ain't beautiful. Will you all take these guns away and let me take a look at the vampire. I promise to be good."  
"What did Al do to your hand?" Glenn asked me.  
"I killed her…" Al growled at me.  
"For fucks sake, girl, get a grip on yourself. You ain't a witch anymore, you can't afford to be this labile, and I don't want a second Newt as my mate. She broke it herself, stop pesting her human!" He looked at the cops.  
"Why that?" Glenn didn't stop to ask questions, he was a police-officer at heart.  
"To get the silver off of her… ," Al replied in total annoyment, rose to his feet and stated his ultimatum.  
"Enough of that, you can either play it nice, so will I or you can choose to play it messy, guess what that would mean. My patience is wearing thin"  
"You're threading police-officers on duty."  
"Well, and you're messing with a pissed off demon and a female on the verge of losing control, I assure you none of you would survive that. And now get out of my freaking way. Rachel!" I had sunken to the floor again and was hugging myself, trembling. He grasped my wrist and pulled me into him.

'Breath and stop turning our life's into a soap-opera.'  
"Stay where you are." One of the officers ordered him. He was lifting me onto his arms, bridal-stile and walked over to the end of the circle which was closest to Ivy.  
"Lower the guns, and no one fires before I tell you to. And demon I hope you behave yourself." Glenn ordered his staff and they actually did what he told them.  
"I will behave as long as you do. No maiming, no fighting, no hurting, no magic on either of you, no killings either. Now get out of my way!"  
Al ordered and I draw in his scent, feeling less instable the longer I inhaled his smell.  
The cops build a small alley to Ivy.  
"Room to breathe, please," the demon asked and actually get it after Glenn kneed next to Ivy, searching for her pulse, and signaling for his co-workers to give us more room.  
My gasp speeded up the closer we got to her, cold sweat was running down my skin. Al bent down and the first thing he did, was raising a part of her sweater.  
"Demon mark … Dali's." He declared, lagging emotions in this statement.  
Glenn fixed his eyes on the demon, and he was able to look as murderous as Al at his worst.  
Worry came unbidden, floated my veins and I shift my peepers on him, hissing, which brought his attention to me.  
He almost flinched, his eyes wide, I heard the rustling of clothes and had the feeling the cops were drawing there weapons on us. The line was inside of me, ready to defend.

Al hissed as he himself collected to the line out back.  
"Ohe!" Magic flowed from him, slowing everyone in the room down, and I wasn't an exception.  
"It's instinct; she has no control over it, like a human turned vampire. Cut her some slack. And Rachel, he will behave himself stop threading him please, you're making things worse." The spell broke and everyone was starring at the demon.  
"You said you wouldn't bespell us," came from the blond lady over to the left.  
"Had no choice, other than letting you kill each other, which would backfire on me! It was a slow down charm, considered white in a demons book, it as no lingering effects once it's broken, and it has a very limited time range. Now stop complaining and let me do the check-up"  
He thought they were all pussies, somehow he was right, but would I have been human and on the other side, shit we would all be in big trouble. We still were, since a bit of fear slipped through me. He groaned at that and touched my soul through his link, giving me a part of his calmness mixed up with major worry.  
Al touched Ivy's neck, searching for a pulse. My eyes followed his action and my own fingers mirrored his. I longed to touch her as well, assuring myself I hadn't finished her off.

* * *

And there it is chapter 16.  
Al seems a bit soft, but it has its reasons, which is going to be explained in later chapters.

Is Ivy going to be ok? How will Glenn react to the answer of Al? And how will our two mates fuck this up even worse, since both are attracting trouble like crap attracts flies.

**Latin:**_ Ohe!_ means something like _stop_


	17. One sip of blood

**A demoness awakens XVII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part seventeenth of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head. _

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Ivy / Glenn & his team / nameless witch  
**Summary:** Ivy's status is cleared and Al makes a suggestion no one wants to take, no one but Rachel. Al is pretty pissed and jealous, but controled himself ok. A few people of Glenns team take liberties they shouldn't and a few other friends of Rachel enter the mess as well.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XVII: _One sip of blood_  
**

**- Rachel -**

Her skin was covered with sweat, and she was extremely cold to the touch, but she had a pulse, otherwise she wasn't reacting in any way.  
A tear slipped down from my chin.  
"Al?" This wasn't making sense to me.  
"Who's Dali and why does she have a demon-mark?" Glenn sounded pissed.  
"She is in a big state of shock. Well, human I would say she needs some sip off blood to at least stabilize her body. Dali is another demon, what do you think he would be?" Al uttered dryly. Glenn flushed, he was Ivy's boyfriend in some kind of way, but were they sharing blood?  
"You didn't answered the question demon."  
"It's not my mark, beside even if it was; it's something very personal and is not shared with anyone else. It's their business not mine, and not yours, either"  
"Don't get cocky!" The man threaded.  
"Then don't ask stupid questions… will one of you provide blood?" He looked around the room, but no one reacted, if you left out the big round eyes they were making.

His attention skipped over the room, for a moment not noting me, which I used to smear the blood still coming from my broken hand onto my vampire bite and faster than thought I bent down to her, bringing her lips to collect with my skin.  
I hoped she was sensing me, and that her instincts for once would take care of the rest. This was my fault, the whole thing, and I wouldn't let her die because of it. Not if I had the tool to save her. What was a little blood in exchange for my best friend life?  
Her nostril flare alive which sent a thread of heat to my core, a bit of worry followed, but I knew she wasn't able to bind me no matter what she choose, and Al wouldn't let her kill me.  
A hand slipped behind my back, holding me to her front and then she sank fangs into my neck, the pain was sudden and short, turning to pleasure like it was meant to be when a vamp drank your blood.  
Al turned back to me.  
"No, oh hell no…," he snarled, going for Ivy's hair to separate us, I on the other hand leaned into him, slamming his hand to the side while I moaned slightly.  
"Not letting her die, I give this to her willingly, don't interfere." I was able to utter while I pressed into both of them, smelling all so delicious.

Glenn looked at Al, inquiring.  
"Is it okay to drink a demons blood? You have to answer a lot of questions Al."  
"Pretty powerful, but nothing what leaves any damage if you mean that. Answers, depends on what you want to know, you may have to exchanges favors with me" Al muttered as an answer, he was jealous, I could feel it swirling inside of me. He eyed Ivy's boyfriend over with a raised eyebrow.  
Ivy still drank and made me grumble in some kind of lust, I had experienced it before, but this time it was different, more intensive but with more control than before.  
Al stood up and pulled the detective with him, the whole room was starring at the girl show we were providing them with.  
"This makes me hot all over, damn girl." He hissed, probably getting some of my sensations through the link.  
"Give them some room!" Al pulled Glenn with him.  
"Don't touch me!" the human hissed.  
"Stop complaining, I need distance from her, and I don't trust you near her."  
"Well I don't trust her near Ivy either."  
"Beneath all this instincts she's still Rachel and as long as Ivy doesn't trigger any reaction she is as save as a newborn kitty with its mother." Nice phrase Al.  
I was starting to feel light-headed due to blood lose, she was warmer to the touch, but otherwise she was still empty. Her aura was full of holes and thin as hell.

I wanted her back, but I was also running out of blood, it surely wouldn't do Ivy any good if she killed me. On the other hand I didn't want to end her meal, slightly shifting the vampire in my arms I sat down and seized her hair bending her head a bit to the side.  
"What is she doing?" Glenn asked and was about to interfere, Al gripped him and pulled him back; he touched my soul again and ran the line through me, erecting a new barrier of ever-after around us.  
"If I'm not allowed in this, you as sure as hell aren't either!" My demon said.  
Glenn tensed up and went for his weapon, only to get Al's hand in the way of his motion.  
"This is against the agreement!"  
"I'm not hurting anyone, and Rachel isn't either. This is just a prevention-measurement; watch and tell me it was not the right thing to do." He was grinning again.  
I bit down hard on Ivy's throat too. Tasting the nectar of her life on my tongue, her fingernails digging into my shoulder, not fully sure if she should let me do this or not.  
A loud moan left both of us and the world swam in ecstasy, Al's need mixing in with mine. My fingers touched some boob and I liked it.

Glenn gasped at this sight, as well as the rest around us, they were pressing against Al's circle, I could feel their minds focused on us.  
Ivy gave herself to my touch and her mind quicken back alive, her teeth left my skin and she asked slightly almost cautious: "Rachel."  
I still drank from her and my fingers found one of her harden nipples, she whimpered under my touch, becoming aware of what was happening here.  
"Rachel!" she pulled careful at my hair, which made me hiss at her for it. Her fingers left the red curls and came to rest on my hip, not willing to stop me. Sadly I would have like that bit of encouraging pain.  
I pulled my own fangs from her neck, and looked at her.  
"Rachel?" A bit of panic was coming over Ivy even with her lust dimming it.  
"Hush… enjoy," I traced her face and licked a line from her neck up to her ear, nipping there.  
"Your eyes," the vampire said.  
Glenn tried to get rid of Al's hands iron hold.  
"They are black; she's fallen prey to lust." Ivy's glance went to the two men in the circle, shocked.

"Le… ave Glenn alone," a small unintentional whimper left her, longing mixed with fear, and she was hitting all my buttons, buttons I didn't even knew I had.  
"I suggest we leave, unless you want more than this shown on the internet, Rachel."  
He diverted me from my task and I let my eyes take in the room, becoming aware of at least three mobile-phones facing us.  
The lust totally dispelled itself; it was like a cold shower. Videos on the internet, my life would be over, totally over! Everyone would know I turned demon, including my mother, brother, his new wife and the coven. Total despair brought me to my feet, only now getting where I had touched Ivy, and it hadn't been only her breasts. My face wasn't able to pick a color, the redness of shame, or the whiteness of fear.  
"I thought you were straight," came from Ivy, hell like she would believe me now that I was.  
"I… I am… " I began an explanation and gave up after a moment. She wouldn't get that strange connection between Al and me, and I absolutely refused to rube her face in it.  
Instead I turned to the more urgent matter, the cameras and I wailed: "They can't."  
"My life would be over." Ivy slowly began to put her clothes back in order.  
"Your life is at my side, and this means my rooms and my side of reality."  
"No Al, No, my place is here." He just raised an eyebrow at that comment.

"Make them stop filming us!" The demon laughed my straight in the face.  
"What, you believe I would ever give you even the slightest chance of running away from me, oh Rachel dove, you couldn't be more wrong."  
"Al!" I complained and turned back to the police-officers.  
"This is very unprofessional, your mobiles are confiscated, this is an official FIB investigation, expect dissuasions for this." Glenn was pretty pissed again, but this time the source of his anger stood on the other side of our circle.  
"But boss." One of his men nagged him.  
"No buts." Ivy starred at the officers and didn't like that any better. Good thing we all were in a circle, otherwise she might have attacked them. But if I was honest so would be I, and they might have chosen to shot us all, this exactly was the thought which kept me from tearing the sheet apart. My eyes found the master-demon off the place.

I hissed at him and walked the few steps over to him. The demon kept himself between Glenn and me.  
"I don't want them having pictures of me… of us…" He just smiled malicious, which was ticking me off. I touched his face, looking him in the eyes again. This time I tried to invoke this strange communication between us, and it worked with almost no effort at all.  
'You talked about protecting me Algaliarept. So tell me what happens when other summoners with knowledge of your name see this, what if the coven gets one to summon you, like they did to me. Wouldn't that make me unsafe?' I hoped he would be falling for that, he grinned.  
'I'm a very experienced old demon; I know how to take care of myself.' My eyebrow rose as I remembered all the little encounter's of us, my lips turned into a smirk.  
"Jeah right." His expression changed in an instant, suddenly glowing down on me, funny thing that intimidating me stopped working the moment I started seeing him once a week.

"Rachel…" he said in warning.  
'Okay mighty, mighty demon-lord turn down the pissiness, you CAN take care of yourself, unless I come into the picture… and now tell me what might happen when you receive a summoning, while I'm with you. Tell me what this strange instinct of mine will do to me, and don't you lie!' His eyes lost his glow and he starred at me, something like astonishment went through him, and he became more serious in an instant, but instead of answering the question he turned on the bearers of the mobiles. Each of the guys, get a long stare. He touched me and worked a spell, stealing the devices from them because they disappeared and the sheet of black ever after turned entirely black around us. No light fell through the barrier anymore, but somehow it wasn't any darker inside. Strange, what spell had that been?  
I extracted myself from his touch and stepped back a few feet, he still said nothing, but the barrier was a clear enough sign, it was like a fat blinking label on a Las Vegas casino, I would follow him and would probably cause something like this again.  
Alone the thought sent an icy chill through me. He just gave a nod.

Ivy raise her hand and touched the place I had drunken from, only now getting what it meant that her fingers came away with blood on them..  
"Äh … Rachel, since then do you have fangs?" The living vampire asked while she rubbed her neck. I turned to Al, inquiring him to answer the question, since I wanted to know too.  
"Later, we may take our leave now, there is a lot unfinished business waiting for us at home."  
"My home is right here." Al let go off Glenn, hustled him in direction of his co-workers, let the circle fell and reset it the moment the other man was outside, this time it was a normal one.

The whole thing happened so fast that no one had a chance to react. This time none of the remaining officers pulled the trick with the mobile, even if we were visible, instead they catched a swearing Glenn. Al came over to me, put his arm around me, sniffed my hair and snatched Ivy's hand.  
"Jump us!" He demanded his voice was dark and promising; his scent took a part of my rational mind away. The vampire tried to fight him off, only to get pulled into him even more.  
"Hers is mine, you're coming with us. We have unfinished business with each other Ivy Alisha Tamwood."  
"AL!" I snarled at him.  
"Beside I want to see you finish what you began." He licked his lips, and the image of my former action came to mind, I blushed as red as my hair.  
"You total pervert ass!"  
"Even demon males are men." He grinned at me and I could have kicked him in the face, but his little display of typical Al was lost as he turned his attention back to Ivy.  
"Permission, Ivy. Give her permission to jump you."  
"Go and turn yourself." Ivy tried to kick his middle but the demon had predicted that and took counter-measurements, ending with my roommate on her ass and a hurtful twisted arm.

"Behave, bloodsucker!"  
"Rachel, do something about him." Again she tugged at his hold only making Al enforcing his grip. My eyes shifted to him.  
"Let go off Ivy, she is not coming with us."  
"Like hell she isn't. She is ours by legislation, and I never let go off anything what's mine."  
"She's mine not yours, so it's my decision!"  
"I'm no ones!" She uttered in absolute fury, her eyes were black and she rasped with her free hand at Al's, which was trapping her.  
"How often will I have to repeat myself today? What belongs to you, is mine as well, same goes for my stuff. And Ivy you can either be our willing guest or my lifetime slave, little Rachel needs a familiar anyway."  
"No, you can't do that! I'm not going to enslave her, or anyone else."  
"Let go off me, you monster!"  
"Will you shut up," the demon snarled at her, rocking her a bit.  
"We will not have this sort of talk in front of strangers!" He watched the crowd  
"Glenn is not a stranger!" I hate to reason with demons, especially this one.  
"Oh, so you want him coming with us as well."  
"Leave Glenn alone!" Ivy sounded like she was about to scream.  
"Silere!" Magic flowed from my demon and Ivy lost her voice, due to whatever curse he had used on her.

"Nullify that!" I hissed at him while I pointed my finger at Ivy, furious, which got me a newly raise eyebrow.  
"I will, if you jump us. By the way the IS just arrived."  
I went ashen again and my view shift over the remains of the church, and yes at least 10 officers of Inderland Security were approaching. Good thing they had to go through Glenn and his crew before reaching us. My ears picked up his annoyed voice, telling them that this was a matter of the Federal Inderlander Bureau. How he was going to explain that without lying was beyond me. I hoped with all my heart that I hadn't fucked up another friend's life.  
I hid behind my demon, not willing to let them see my like that.  
"This is so typical Rachel Morgan, bet that bitch was playing summoner again." One person said from the garden. Fuck, they had surrounded us.  
"Al, I don't know how." I complained and looked at Ivy remembering what she told me about Rynn's order. She was done for if she was left alone with the IS.  
"What's mine is yours." Al said and touched my neck, his mind invading mine, sharing knowledge about line-traveling. Who had told me I would need a gargoyle for that, lying bastard he could have taught me all alone!

I turned to my roommate.  
"Ivy, please. Rynn is going to kill you, come with me. I will make sure it will not be permanently and that he will not touch you, otherwise I might nail his balls to the wall! Do you get that Al?" The demon grinned at me, which wasn't very assuring, he added a shrug.  
"Please Ivy, trust me, and I will take care of the undead as well."  
She just looked me straight in the eyes, trying to say something, this curse was annoying me. Al for his part gripped my shoulder and turned me to face him.  
"You will not mess with the undead."  
"You're not my boss, you're not gonna tell me what to do and what not! She is my friend and I will help her. This new demon-status must be of some use, don't you think." I grinned at him myself; he sighed in utter irritation and shrugged.  
"Fine! I'm along for the ride, just to make sure; beside I want to see the vampires face." The sphere went dark around us.  
"What."  
"We're better not seen here, since a few of that witches know my name, and I don't want to be summoned and pested by them, beside as you yourself pointed out you would follow me. I don't need you to play war with them. Ivy your answer please"  
She flipped him the bird, but nodded at me. I touched both and willed myself to the line, matching our auras to its frequency. Al's instincts took over, strange to use over 5000 years of memory if you never were able to do it right before.

* * *

Now we know what's up with Ivy, and yes little Rachel might not be completely straight anymore, since she has a bond with a male demon. The big question about this is, will Al permite anything between the two of them, without being part of the deal. And what might Ivy think about that? See how the three of them will dance in the next chapter.

Latin

_Silere!_ means _silence_ the curse steals ones voice until revoked.


	18. The broken bone

**A demoness awakens XVIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part eightteenth of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head. _

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Ivy  
**Summary:** Ivy, Rachel and Al land inside Al's spelling-kitchen, the demon gives Rachel a curse, which Rachel being Rachel, she refuses to use. Al for his side doesn't take the rejection well and shows his teeth to both girls. Bad idea with a demon in an ill mood, they are in for a lot of pain.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XVIII :_ The broken bone_**

**- Rachel -**  
Parts of me acknowledged where my errors had been, and even if he separated his mind from mine, I would be able to do a jump on my own, I would never be trapped with him again, at least I hoped so. I built protection bubbles around our souls to protect our minds; never thought it could be so easy to travel by line. We misted into existence in his spelling kitchen, whoever chose this destination it hadn't been me, since I didn't know where I wanted to be, other than in a clean shower and a soft bed.  
Al escaped my touch and got over to the cupboard which was holding a few of his curses, he browsed over the neatly arranged labels and took one, closing it with carefulness.  
He walked back to me, while Ivy took in the whole of his spelling kitchen.

The ugly figures shifting on the tapestry, which still gave me the creeps, the ugly face we were standing on, which was Al's sort of a door, since the room had none. The walls were gray and the whole place was build like a circle, for months I wondered why the room had this particular shape, and if all demon-spelling-kitchens would be circles. Couldn't tell, Al's kitchen had been the only one I ever entered, and if I could, I would keep it this way.  
One part of the wall was lined with dark wooden cabinets, a few older ones hold doors with rippled glass and a few new ones where plain dark wood, they weren't matching.  
The kitchen looked better than last time I had been inside, but after the fighting what had taken place between Al and Pierce a lot of things had to be replaced. She starred at the high ceiling which was almost forty feet above us; even living in a church hadn't prepared her for this sight. She was as astonished as I had been when I entered Al's spelling kitchen for the first time.

I watched her brown eyes becoming larger with wonder and somehow it smoothed my soul a bit that Ivy saw where I went to once a week, and that she wasn't running screaming for the hills. Her eyes found the central fire pit, which also was round, as well as the raised stage of black slate.  
In the middle of that burned a big circular fire, covered with some sort of crystal or glass which broke the light from the fire and illuminated the place. The glass migrated into a long and almost translucent pillar which conjoined with the wood that was holding the ceiling.  
The central fire was surrounded by granitic stone, also circular; what was it with demons and circles? In it were two squared black plates, which you could easily mistake for ceran cooking-surfaces, only these ones were running on a demon-curse.  
Four benches surrounded the cooking area of the kitchen, they also stood on the platform; off to the right was a big table together with four really comfortable chairs.

Al cleared his throat; I had been so fascinated with the gaping Ivy, that I hadn't sensed him coming over. He waggled a transparent bottle right before my eyes.  
"It's a changing curse, it will heal up your hand, take it!"  
I gazed at him.  
"I will not take it, I don't do vanity curses; I'll check in to a hospital and get treatment like I'm supposed to do."  
"You will take the curse!" He stepped into my personal space, which made the vampire slightly nervous, even if I should be the one to get jumpy.  
"No, I'm not!" I tried to cross my arms, but remembered in time that my hand was badly broken.  
"You're shunned, both police-forces are gunning for you, the church looked like a terroristic attack had taken place. Rachel you're a true demon, you smell and look the part. They will kill you, when given the chance." His patience was wearing thin; I sensed it under his accent.

"No they wouldn't, I have friends… "  
"Jeah, the ones who tried to off you, including that one beside you?"  
"Shut up!" Ivy said with a slight snarl, but at least she was able to talk again.  
Al shifted his glance to her, warning her to remain silent.  
"Why do you need to be so stubborn? Fine, then the hard way, don't move, Ivy!" He turned back to me, catching my intact arm as I wanted to get out of range, I have been smacked by Al often enough.  
But instead of hitting me he let a soft pulse of line flowed through me, pain hit me hard, made my stomach turn and this time my pizza saw light again.  
The demon held me upright, so that I wasn't falling into my own barfed up meal.  
"Stop whatever you're doing Al!" I whined the moment I had enough air for it.  
Ivy shifted helpless beside me, she didn't trust his kitchen, she didn't trust him either, attacking him was out of the option. The vampire smelled of anxiety, she was probably afraid how I would take a second assault, which I could understand very well since I felt the same way about myself.

Al grasped my other arm, the one with the now almost burning hand; it was swollen and almost three time of its normal size. The color was something between angry bloody red and a very dark purple, the fingers hung lose. I was about to puke again.  
"I released the pain-killer curse I casted on it. If you think you don't want to take this, you will feel the pain of the damage." I cried out in absolute agony as he pressed his fingers into the tortured flesh, my vision swam in colors and I wasn't even able to reach for a line, since my concentration was totally gone. The twinge was bad enough without him adding to it.  
"Stay back!" The homicidal demon growled at Ivy, who was maybe about to interfere with this. He drew me further into his body, into his scent and even in my battled state it had some effects on me. My eyes were filled with tears.  
"Stop it Al… stop it!" I begged as he put another bit of pressure on the bones.  
The blood in my ears was rushing so loud that reality lost its meaning for a few seconds; I must have passed out, because the next thing I remembered was his fingers on my cheek holding a cold piece of cloth to it.

Nausea followed, I absolutely didn't want to know how many extra damage he had done to my hand. Protecting me, my ass, he was exactly what he said, a wicked piece of demon-shit what got off on my agony. I hated him even more than ever before. He sensed me coming to me, and retrieved the beneficial coldness from my face.  
"Take the curse!" He ordered me, after everything he had done to me? Who was he kidding here?  
"Go and… fuck yourself Algalia…" My words left me as he pressed with an extrabit of demonic strength, I almost passed out a second time.  
"You WILL take it! Do you know how pathetic this looks? We can not afford to be seen so weak! Take the fucking curse you stupid witch-bitch!" He screamed at me.  
"No!" As always I got stubborn as hell when someone ordered me around.  
"Rachel, Newt is giving a party for us in 6 days and we can't bail out of it! So, fucking take the damn curse" he told me.  
"Who… cares?" I hissed through my almost blood-red eyesight.

"She sees this and she will nail me to a wall, and guess what, even if you would like this been done to me now, you will lose it again when someone else dares to do that!"  
I answered with a growl, where was this stupid instinct when I needed it most, bet on vacation, maybe the Bahamas.  
"Do it!" The demon coaxed, which due to all that hurting he had done didn't worked.  
"Turn… yourself!" He gave a frustrated howl of utterly rage.  
"You blackened your aura a great deal to stay at the other side of the lines… and now you complain about a silly vanity-curse! If you don't care for your own good, I will fucking go for your friend, breaking her bones, until you use that! How about that?"  
I must have turned even whiter because he moved two steps and faltered.  
"Leave Ivy alone," I demanded.  
"She attacked me again, what is it with you and your friends, which makes you think tempting me in my current mood would be a good idea?"  
"Leave Ivy… alone," I tried to get up and received a thank you note of my body in form of a dizziness fit. I fell back onto the ugly face which marked Al's kitchen-entrance, thankful this hurted as well, adding to my nausea.

"Take the curse and I will." He left the bottle right at the side of my good hand and walked out of my line of sight, a female scream echoed from the walls and a shot of sexual excitement came with it. Al would torture Ivy and would like that very much; I was only getting echoes of his emotions. I starred at the bottle. Fucking blackmailing demon, I had promised Ivy a save tour to the ever-after and he was breaking my word, he was also breaking a bone be the sound of it. My roommate wailed in terror and pain, bastard, fucking bastard, a new kind of sickness added to the already present one, I had slept with that monster. I rolled onto my side and grasped the bottle, adrenalin giving me the strength to do so, my teeth unplug the vessel of the curse and I took it down, invoking it the same second it was down my throat.  
I sensed my body reforming under a sheet of red ever after, the stink of burnt-amber which drifted off of me got worse, the pain on the other hand was completely gone.  
My eyes drifted to my hand, inspecting it. A second scream came from Ivy, shaking me awake from my admiration for the curses work.

I got to my feet and reached for the line's power, even getting it. Al panted in pain and looked at me, while I was stalking over to him. He tried to stand the lines power I pulled through him. His pain shifted through my mind as well, but I welcomed it, liked it.  
"How dare you to attack my friend!" I hissed at him, the vampire was laying there with a twisted arm, eyes black with pain. Fury came hot and without noting it, my fist collected with his face, breaking his nose. He hurled in pain and gripped my wrists, holding them still.  
"You hurt me, you broke my promise, take your beating like a man or do you want me to do this." My voice was back to the strange sound I began to associate with my instinct driven side, so the demon was back on the stage, time to scare the shit out of Al; he wasn't going to hurt anyone under my protection ever again.  
He sensed what I was about to do and did nothing to stop me, the line raced through him took parts of golden sparkles with it, while my demon fought for air and held onto my arms.  
I had expected resistance, fighting will or flight but Al just leaned into me even more, which made the connection even easier, and faster.

* * *

Oh I had a bad mood while I was writing that. Poor Rachel and Ivy, Al really lost it a bit. But somehow I can understand his problem, he is under a lot of pressure and his arguments aren't completely wrong.

Of course a demoness wouldn't let her male treat her like that, so Al has somewhat a problem. What is Rachel going to do to him now?


	19. Little insight into demon culture

**A demoness awakens XIX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part nineteenth of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head.  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Ivy  
**Summary:** Al broke Ivy's arm and Rachel is pretty pissed about it. She starts to send the line through her demon, sadly little Al has a damaged aura from getting killed. To top that off he does nothing to defent himself. How will Rachel react, how will Ivy be curred from her broken bone? And will the proud vampire take a curse out of her free will?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XIX: _Little insight into demon-culture_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
All the fury drained from me in shock as I got what that idiot was doing, he offered me his life on a plate. The line lost itself and my eyes found him, still not breathing even, I sensed the first tickle of panic rising inside of me. Was he nuts, I could have killed him, and he wouldn't have lifted a finger to defend himself. A few seconds back he was threatening to break every damn bone inside of my body to make me take his curse, and now he was all soft against my legs. What the hell was going on here, it confused and scared the hell out of me.  
A low whimper shock me out of my thoughts, what was up with me anyway, why was I keep forgetting my environments and everyone but Al?  
My eyes found Ivy, and her gaze spoke volumes about what had happened here. I started to tremble and shoved the demon off my legs, which to my relief worked just fine.  
Satisfying the urge to move, I walked over to his curse storage cupboard, if everything of his was mine as well, I would give Ivy one of his shape shifting spells to heal her up, of course without charging for it.  
My hand opened it and I browsed over his neat written labels of handwriting, frowning at what it might mean, slightly cursing about demons and their stupid love for Latin.

A breath of warm air touched my neck and sent a bolt of lightning to my groin, I hissed at him as he whispered in my ear, just an inch from touching me, everything I had to do was leaning into him to taste him again. Alone the thought was enough to sent shivers down my spin; my hand gripped the wooden door for support. I refocused my will, I had to heal Ivy's broken arm, not making out with Al in front of her!  
"Al, move it!" I ordered since I had other things on my mind than this stupid demon-sexdrive.  
Of course he didn't.  
"What is my delicious smelling mate searching for?" He almost touched my ear and I growled slightly, something between need and annoyment, I had to get away from his hormones, it was worse than vampire-pheromones.  
"Move it, I said!" With all force I could muster I elbowed him in the guts, the demon even stepped back a few steps, finally.

I moved next to the cupboard opposite from the door and leveled a dark look on the guy, crossing my arms before my chest. At least I was wearing clothes again, even my own ones, did he just made me change into myself?  
"Shifting-curse for Ivy, I promised her save passage, and she will damn well get it. This means no broken bones or any other stupid shit which runs through your mind. Stupid Latin, choose one Al, and don't pick anything what would make me angry." My eyelid twitched slightly. The demon grinned back at me while he let his finger slid over the multicolored glass-bottles. The gesture wasn't going unnoticed by my body, since my mind imagined these fingers on my skin.  
'Fuck, Rachel, stop that! Bad demon! He just broke Ivy's bones and tortured you. Get a fucking grip!'  
"What otherwise?" the demon taunted me.  
"Al you're pissing me off! I'm considering to make you sleep on the couch." I snarled in warning, as he laughed full and rich. How I would order a demon in his own home to sleep anywhere he didn't want to, was beyond me.

"Al, stop playing with the bottles and pick one, for hells sake."  
"Like you want me any less than I want you, I can smell your arousal, dove. You don't want me on the couch Rachel; you want me playing with you. I would satisfy your very need, satisfying the longing for my warm fingers on your skin, licking the sweet sweat from your body, but you told me off." He warped his lips into a teenagers pout, and centered all his attention on the labels, faking complete innocents and pretending not to push my buttons just right.  
I growled at him in frustration, half way about to jump his bones and half way imagine how it would feel to rip his throat out. Another's feeling swept through the room, part frustration, part anger, part jealousy, part pain, part fear my eyes searched for the source, becoming aware of Ivy.  
What was Ivy doing here, with a broken arm; I turned to Al, dizziness seared through me and he took hold on my arm.  
"What is it?"  
"I forgot about her, I totally forgot, how… why… Al, I don't feel so well." My legs gave way and he catched my with ease, finally picking one bottle and closing the door of the cupboard.

"What's up with her, demon-spawn?" The vampire asked, he walked past her, giving her the repository of liquid while he walked.  
"Drink it, I will invoke it, so your broken bones will heal up."  
"I received a demon's mark today, I'll not take a demons-curse and you didn't answer my question!"  
"She is coming down with a fever, I shouldn't have played on her instincts like that, this was very immature and careless." Ivy looked at him with total wonder in her face, Al just admit he was making mistakes like everyone else.  
"I saw what you were doing. How dare you raping her you freaking monster."  
"Listen, and listen well, since repeating myself will cause you more pain. For the time being you're our guest, so you will be careful about your enunciation while in our tender care."  
"Tender care, my ass, you broke my arm!"  
Al sat down on one of the benches around the main part of the kitchen, placing me with my head on his lap. Ivy followed him, furious, wanting to give him more of her mind.

"I wasn't finished yet, and I told you how to get rid of that problem." The demon started playing with my hair, which sent little impulses of heat down my body, but his scent was calming a part of my agitated blood.  
But I was fare from feeling right, if I would, there was no way in hell my head would stay on Al's lap.  
"Second, if you ever accuse me of raping her again I will show you how one looks like when getting raped by a demon." His eyes were glowing, his pheromones amplifying which made me whimper a bit from the dizziness this raised.  
"I heard Dali talking to you. I know about the night he wants to spend with you. If you desire it as well, just carry on with your accusations and you will be given to him as a gift. Just say the words." I sensed his grinning, and tried to fight my way out of this strange drowsiness, but Al's fingers which were massaging my scalp kept me from forming a clear thought.

Ivy on her part turned white and sat down on another bench.  
"You wouldn't, Rachel promised me, and she looked pretty scary when she broke your nose, why don't you use this curse yourself."  
"I will use another one, just not right now. Ivy you might think about demons whatever you want, but believe me one thing, none of us has his head stuck up one's arse that deep to attempted raping a demon woman." She starred at him, and if I would have been able to do it, I would have done the same.  
"It would be suicide. She wants you, she takes you; you mess it up, she kills you."  
Ivy was gaping, this time at me.  
"Yes, Rachel would have killed me, if I hadn't been to her liking, that is. And than she would have moved on from demon to demon until she finds someone who tastes right."  
"She… wouldn't do that."  
He laughed at that, almost a bit hysterical

"Oh, yes she would, a demoness in her first heat has no control over herself in any way. They are totally running on instinct. You can thank the runt for that, since this dipshitassy fucktard caused this, if you want someone hanging from his balls you should go for Pierce, the only reason why he's still alive is her plead." No matter what he was talking about he found a place on my scalp which made me purr loudly like a big cat. If I had been in my right mind I would have turned red with embarrassment and stopped this no-sense, but I wasn't and Al enjoyed this sound pretty much. Take a guess where I got this information from.  
"You're telling me you … risk your life to bind her?" He giggled low and it grew into a full out laughter, turning completely serious from one second to the next.  
"No, I risked my life because she is my student and I am therefore solely responsible for her doings, if she had started killing demons I would have had to answer to Newt and Dali, and trust me on this one, I would have been better off dead than facing the consequences of that lawsuit. Beside I was trying to get in her pants even before I knew about her heritage."

Ivy observed the petting demon and my still purring self, a little shiver run through her and she managed to focus on Algaliarept just in time to hear him screwing me over.  
"And binding is a female thing. Normally a male has to be asked, at least according to our customs. But it proved to be unnecessary altogether; a female can bind a male against his will." She looked at him in utterly skepticism.  
"You're fucking insane, you're telling me she raped you, not the other way around?" Ivy's voice was getting louder, which made me grumble in discomfort.  
"Will you drop using that gormless word? No one raped anyone here. She received her first heat, and called all unbound demons to claim her. I was the first to answer, and obviously she thought I was worthy not only of pleasing her flesh but also of wholeheartedly affection."  
Damn was he telling her, I loved him? How dares he, I didn't!  
"Are you telling me she loves you, did she say that?" Her voice was turning ugly and cold, which was a very bad sign; silently I prayed Al would not start thrusting the knife in any deeper.

"Love? No, she didn't say that. Love like you would understand it is not part of demon-culture. Women choose their men for scent, power, skills and genetics. We men are there to serve, to protect, to please and to breed with. The bond makes sure we don't kill each other over some daffing, or for the pure pleasure of being the stronger demon."  
Ivy looked at him like he had lost his mind.  
"It sounds pretty cold to me, like being used or a milder form of slavery."  
"Demons are using each other, every time they meet, every time they talk, why should living in marriage be any different?" He shrugged on her.  
"Sounds horrible to me, what does Rachel say about all this?" The vampire looked down on me while I was still purring, aware of each word spoken but not able to summon my thoughts for a word, still feeling to hot in my own skin.  
"She hates it, of course. But her inner demoness is fully contended with me as her mate, otherwise she wouldn't have forged that bound."  
"Mh, if everything in your world centers around the usage another being might have, what do you get out of being äh … her mate?" She asked suspicious.  
"A bound to a female boosts our line-storage capacity, changes our status, provides us with an ally and is an invitation to beget a child with her."

My breath stumbled on this one, and somehow I was able to form at least one word, Ivy had the same thought on her tongue, and we shouted it in unison.  
"WHAT?"  
Al giggled and let his hand travel from my head over my back, good thing he wasn't aiming for any sensitive area, since I was sure the purring would have changed to a moaning.  
"Normally the first heat of a female is sated by her father, since he has the boosted capacity I spoke about and he can't be bound, since he already is."  
"Incest? You have to be fucking kidding me." I muttered almost incomprehensible, Ivy looked even more shocked.  
My demon just continued to caress my back in all tranquility, like I hadn't just accused his whole kin of pervertness.  
"There is a reason behind this custom. The first heat is the worst of them, with each one the woman gets more control over her instincts, and you want to choose your mate with prudence and a clear head, and not the first man your instincts agree with. Forging a bond means settling down for a lifetime, sharing your soul and never touching anyone else. A female not tamed by her father usually ends up with the first male she accepts in her bed and it would be only incest if they would produce offsprings, his mate would kill him for an insolence like that, probably right before she takes down her daughter as well." I couldn't help it but being a demon sounded worse with each word Al spoke.

Ivy made an involuntary sound.  
"Stealing ones mate is a pretty serious crime, and like vampires, demons are downright territorial when it comes to there possessions, touch their goods and they will hunt you down, especially females." Ivy looked shocked enough that you got the impression she never looked like anything else.  
A cold shudders ran down my spin, as my brain finally catched up with the conversation.  
"You… knew all along this… would happen?" I wanted to be angry with him but his skillful fingers never stopped moving, which caused goose-bumps.  
"It was a possibility, yes. But I thought you were too much witch to react like a true demon woman, as usually you proved me wrong and screwed us both with it."  
"Don't you make this my fault!" I moaned as his hand finally reached the outline of my breast, writhing on his lap, while my face touched the prove of his intentions.  
"It isn't your fault, it's Pierce. I fucking told him to leave you untouched; he probably thought I was just jealousy and tried to rube my face in his success. Look mighty demon Algaliarept I got the price you never will be able to touch." He used the witch's voice for the mockery.

"How can this be his fault, and why didn't she end up with a bond to Pierce?" Ivy asked.  
"Because the idiot is just a witch and failed to satisfy the deeper needs of her inner demon."  
"You said he is still alive, how can this be when your women kill everything…"  
"Because I interfered, messing up her aim and claiming her afterwards, she never found the time to kill him." He answered while his fingers touched boob again, evoking fire in my veins, I wanted him to stop, but I liked the feeling it caused.  
"Al," I pleaded, but wasn't sure for what, the demon stopped stroking me and looked at what his hand was doing just now. He cleared his throat and started massaging my scalp all over again.  
"Rachel pleaded for his life; you said earlier, this doesn't match up demon." Ivy uttered suspicious of his words.  
"Our little itchy witch is still partly herself, and you should have witness the jumps between her instincts and her own psychic structures. She has a strong will, and fights it, but it's taking its price."

"Don't tell me she's changing, becomes one of your monsters for real!" The vampire screamed.  
"She already made the change, but her mind will need time to adjust to the new input until then she will be one pretty dangerous creature to be around. Almost as unstable as our other female, it depends dearly on what will happen in the next days, months and years. How her psychic change will end up." His words were running through me like ice and suddenly his hand on my head wasn't so enjoyable anymore, I tried to get up from his lap.  
He leaned into me and whispered in my ear.  
"Please, stay, accept that you like my touch, enjoy it, don't fight it or the fever is going to get worse. I will behave myself." The last was spoken careful, and that he had shifted his hand from my breast back to my head proved at least that he was trying to leave the impression that he would do that.  
I rose from his lap anyway, trying to sit up and almost falling off the bench while doing so. He catched me again and did some colorful swearing in Latin.

"What's up?" Ivy was halfway over to our place, and I wanted to sit with her not with him. This was so totally freaking me out, I wasn't my own person anymore, I wanted to be myself again. Al didn't let go of me as I started to fight him, screaming like crazy, kicking, punching and scratching at him. It was like struggling against death; at least it felt like I wasn't able to breathe anymore.  
"What the hell are you doing?" The vampire was right beside us.  
"Get off of me… get off, let go, don't touch me. Get away you demon" I howled at him in panic, dizziness mixed with heat and nausea followed in its wake.  
„Nothing, she has got a panic attack… fuck, we're history."  
His soul touched mine and I fought with everything I have got against it, including all line-arts I had mastered but the demon was faster, much faster, before I could send the line into him he encompassed my soul with his aura and pulled my emotions from me, like a banshee.  
It would kill me, he would murder me, right in front of Ivy, and she would be his. I cried in agony before his calmness entered me, filled me and I went limp in his hands.

„What did you do now?" Ivy asked worry deep in her voice.  
„Took her panic, made it mine. Don't touch her. We're history; Newt is going to kill us both. We have as much change to survive her party as a snowball in an active volcano."  
He kept holding me and slumped down, utterly bereaved of any hope.  
"Newt will play her instincts like a harp; from turning her into a homicidal killing maschine to causing panic attacks, everything is possible. How am I supposed to keep her save?" He asked the vampire or maybe the whole universe.  
Ivy fell silent at that und she watched the demon with confusement.  
"You… truly care about her?" It sounded like she would rather believe the government would repeal all taxes.  
Al aligned his eyes on her and raised his eyebrow.  
"Of course you moron, caring about me means I have to take care of her as well. She is my mate; there is a reason why I would have preferred not to be bound. Rachel was trouble before turning demon, and I knew it wouldn't get any better, but I hadn't expected it to be that bad. You summoned her to the church and Newt decided to show up in my rooms, announcing her party. We have 5 days, 5 days to tame her instincts, to give her back enough control to face a room full of male demons who would sell their souls to get a shot on her. She is giving of pheromones like crazy, turning everyone horny and brainless. Newt is going to play her instincts, and no one knows anything about the sealed palace and what might lie inside of it."

Ivy stayed silent and watched my now emotionless face.  
"She… is going to be ok, is she?"  
"For now? Yes! In 5 days, most probably not. It would have been bad if she would have been born a demon, but she came from the witches, her culture is a different one, raised in another world, she knows little about demonic instincts. She isn't able to predict her reactions and so she is not fast enough to control them. Imagine you wouldn't have been born a vampire, turned undead or living and left in a room full of bleeding virgins."  
Her eyes went almost black as she subliminal pictured the scent this scene would create; Ivy shook her head and looked at me again.  
"This doesn't sound good"  
"Not good." The demon which was holding me laughed hysterical.  
"Not good she says; it's the worst fucking situation I ever gotten myself into. And I have been fighting against the elves-uproar. I have seen Newt killing my mother, and later on my past mate. With knowledge of the crazy bitch's planes I might be able to do something, but without it, we are toast. Any snippy comments," he asked dryly. Ivy just shook her head.

"You have curses to bring back dead people, witch or demon; you want to tell me you don't have one to get rid of that problem?"  
"There might be one, but I don't know it. I will have to do serious investigation, but I can't leave Rachel alone, since she needs privacy and assistance and me."  
"I don't need you." I babbled more absent than present.  
"Yes you do. Your problem with Rynn Matthew Cormel isn't going to be easily solved either Ivy Alisha Tamwood, it might be better to stay with us." He said almost sounding nice, which I didn't trusted. If a demon sounds anything like pleased, run for cover and pray he doesn't find you.  
"I don't want to stay this side of the lines, my family and Jenks are going to believe Rachel killed me. What are you planning concerning Rynn?"  
"I don't know what Rachel wants to do, but I might be a nice little demon and giving you a gratis warning here, particularly females are pissed if someone touch's their goods, you just witnessed how bad this can turn out to be. It depends how much she sees you as hers."  
"What do you mean?"  
"If I got it right, she is very fond of you. Fond enough to use her right to your soul even if she knew she would accept her new status and kin with it. She can't stand in front of Newt and Dali and say she possesses demon-rights enough to demand your soul, and denying she is a female on the other hand."

"And what does that mean?" Ivy didn't sound pleased.  
"It means she gave up her place in your world, alienating herself from her former place of living." He stated and I turned white again, my feelings slowly returning to me.  
"No… I didn't," I tried to reason with him.  
"Yes by demon-law you did acknowledge yourself as one of us, and even if the rules for females are slightly different than for us males, you have to live in the ever-after."  
"No one would… I can't … Al, my mother doesn't even know it. I can't live here, not forever trapped." I said slowly and sad, while I wished I could change everything.  
"You will have to"  
"Why did you let me, why didn't you take her, can't we switch that now, so I would get my former status back?"  
"Forget it Rachel, Newt and Dali saw you using the database, they smelled you, they felt our bond, taking Ivy's soul as reparations for her crime is just the little drop in the sink which makes it truly official. The damage is done, even if you revoke your rights it wouldn't change anything. I would take her next and then we wouldn't sit here having a nice civilized chat." He didn't add anything but he didn't need to, Ivy's eyes widen.

"Al, that rules… am I bound by summoning terms?" He looked at me.  
"Partly. You have to move over when they use your password, you're trapped in their circle and you can make dealings, dish out marks and take others if they are careless. But as a female you're master of the lines, you can also demand an instant banishment or take down their circle. One rule is irrevocably, no lying, but omission is not a lie."  
I glanced at him and sighed, hoping I would never be trapped in a circle ever again.  
"So I would say we might call it a day and go to sleep. Ivy since I haven't gotten back Ceri's room by now, and I don't trust you, you will be staying in the same room Pierce occupied for his stay. Rachel?" He pulled me close and got more of his smell into my nose, my body reacted with a new wave of dizziness.  
"I can't jump us like that." I said, which made my demon sighed in annoyment.  
He shifted my weight like I wouldn't have any and threw me over his shoulder his other hand gripped Ivy's still broken arm and hauled her into him too. She screamed which made him grin into her face.  
"You should have taken the curse, but your still have your soul which means, your make you own foolish decisions." He used my aura to encompass us and jumped us to our rooms.

* * *

Of course Al couldn't stay a nice guy until the end. And he is dropping informations like crazy, something he might regret in the future. It's not very demonlike, but Rachel is not the only one affected by the bond. It might be OOC but even that has it's reasons ^^.


	20. Bathroom, attraction, mistake

**A demoness awakens XX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part twenty of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head.  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al  
**Summary:** Al leaves Ivy in Pierce's room. He gives Rachel a pretty gift to wear for sleep. The demoness on the other hand wants to take a shower, and it turnes out demons have bathrooms like everyone else, but what they might be doing in there is not necessary the same.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XX: _Bathroom, attraction, mistake_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
Al had left Ivy in Pierce's 70 square feet vision of a hell-hole. A room almost 11 feet long, with grey walls, a bed and no window or door, the bed was the only thing in the room beside the walls, ceiling and the floor. He had hustled Ivy onto the bed, which made her scream in agony because of her broken bone.  
I wanted to help her and started to fight the demons grip on my arm, but he took me with him Jumped to his bedroom. Al was a bit of more careful with me, but the way he threw me on the bed was a clear sign that he was at the end of his nerves.  
So was I. Newt was giving a party, like I hadn't enough problems without the psycho-bitch doing extra damage! Al started to disrobe himself while I stayed in the stuff which came with the curse.  
"Take off the curse Rachel."  
"Like hell, I used it and I have finally clothes on me, beside Ivy is…" a hard pull went through me and made me shiver all over, almost swaying on my feet, a slightly cough pulled my attention to the demon next to me.  
"Rachel you're not going to sleep in these clothes, either you take them off or I do, and my mood is bad, really bad, tell me do you want sex right now?" I made a face at this suggestion, and no, I didn't wanted to have sex with him, ever again.  
"See me neither, if you make me disrobe you, chances are good that you instincts will take over, which of course means sex. So be a nice little girl and get into this."  
He threw me a white piece of fabric which was as soft and liquid as if it had been water in its last life. Silk and it looked pretty. A long dress which would pool nicely and wide around my feet, fitted my figure from breast to hip, but it didn't seemed uncomfortable.

I looked it over first and inspected the demon right afterwards.  
"Al, you will not touch me in this?"  
"Not planning to, love." The demon was already in his Adam-costume and very happy to stand in the room with me flushing at his nakedness. I growled in response.  
"I want to shower first, you do have a shower, do you?" Al snickered lowly and pulled on a line, speaking a quick word of Latin and a doorframe appeared in the wall between his two closets.  
"Suit yourself, I don't use it much." He said and I went for his bathroom.  
"Äh, Al is it possible to get water without the stink of burnt amber?"  
"Sorry about that but sadly no, but feel free to use the shower anyway."  
"Great so I shower and I will stink even worse." I said depressive and banged the door shut; slowly I got to the large mirror which stood in front of me, from floor to ceiling, and almost as broad as Pierce room was long. Ley line symbols ensnarled with the golden framework which was holding the masterpiece to the wall.  
I was as usually over 7 feet long, with athletic build, wild untamed red hair, a bit of more boob and ass and my typical black leather pants, silent vampire boots, and red tank top. Yes he indeed gave me a curse to look like myself, minus the still fucking scary demonic-slitted eyes, could I change them to my former green, like Minias said demons could, technical I was one by now?

Slowly I got my clothes off of me and I watched me in the mirror, the mark of Dali under my left breast, one mark on my shoulder blade from Minias, which I carried because I bought Trent as a familiar and the one mark from Al on my wrist, which I got at our first encounter. The mark under my foot which had been Newt's, was gone in exchange for switching back summoning names with Al.  
I scratched my head.  
'What belongs to you, is mine as well, same goes for my stuff.'  
His voice echoed through my memory, if this was working for souls it might work for marks as well, wouldn't it? I put my hand on the outlines of the circle on my wrist, playing on it with my fingernails.  
Could I, as his mate, claim all his marks, and could I insist on the removal of them from my skin, since I wouldn't be able to own myself that would leave me only with Dali's mark to pay off. Could I even put an end to Al's familiar-business?

My eyes wandered over my body which made me regret I had no time to pack a sleep-over bag. A grin shifted over my face as I disabled the curse and turned back into myself.  
It wasn't that much a difference in appearance. Still the green goat-slitted eyes, still the red hair on my head, but my boobs and ass were back to there normal size, and I got additional hair on my legs and under my armpits. What was a libido-killer on the other side of the lines might work with horny demons as well. I found my way to his big ass bathtub; it was white marmor, decorated with golden outlines and golden faucets.  
Expensive bottles in different colors were placed on a board over the bathtub. I plugged the drain and filled the tub with water while I sat on his toilet bowl, inspecting the bottles.  
The red one smelled of wild roses, the green of Northman fir tree, the yellow of lily, the purple one of lavender, the blue one of lilac, and the black one, I didn't know, couldn't place that one. I took one breath after another and forgot the time, until someone cleared his throat. My face turned as red as my hair while I saw my demon standing inside the doorway his eyes centered on the bottle in my hands.

"I… am… äh sorry…," I said while my hand was going for the silk to cover myself up. Al strode through the room and gave me a big white towel, with the same motion he took the black bottle from my hands.  
"I see you like that one, it's a sort of lust-amplifier-curse, you shouldn't take that one."  
"I really don't need an amplifier for my libido." I mumbled slowly and careful.  
"No you don't, but I bought it anyway, I imagined you would like the smell, and you did." His eyes traveled down my body which sent hot streams of lead down to my groin. I growled at him, since it annoyed me great deal not to be able to control my own longings. He seemed to have a similar problem since he was indeed very happy to see me naked.  
"Which one of the bath oils is not a curse?" I asked wary.  
"None, each one has a curse inside of it. The black is for lust, the lavendle is for calmness, the red for relaxiation, green is for refreshment, lily is for concentration and lilac is a curse against bad dreams and emotional pain. I might suggest that on, since you probably feel like shit right now."  
"I don't feel like shit, Al." I protested against his statement, even if he was right, wary I went for the lilac bottle anyway.  
"You're going to show me it's harmless." I put a large shot of the blue liquid into the water and signaled for the bigger demon to get his ass into the bathtub.

Al eyed me over like I had missed something big about the situation. He placed the black bottle on the board with accuracy and entered the water without any protest. That alone should have been a big warning-sign.  
"Well than milady, you wanted to take a bath with me, come on in." Now I understood what the hell I had missed and growled at him. He on the other hand extended his hand to me, which I eyed over like it would be a big toxic snake ready to strike.  
"I will come back later, when you're finished." I said and walked past him to the door, a long low moan and a tickle of sensation stopped me dead in my track. I turned around to see how the demon touched his chest, sinful, slow, tenderly, oh so lecherous.  
"Damn, Al, stop that!" I demanded of him while he already laid in his bathrub, rubbing his chest his other hand touched his erection, playing slowly.  
I sensed his satisfaction cause by my reaction, I couldn't leave and my breath was coming way to fast.  
"Al…"  
"Come to me, show me how much you like this sight." A new moan of him and it flowed through me; it made me hot all over.  
"Al you just said you don't want to have sex." I reminded him, while he touched himself with halfclosed eyes. Damn us all back to the turn, this sight was so forbidden erotic, even if I was unable to place since when Al looked erotic to me. Without noticing I took one step toward him.

"Change of mind, I seek your touch my mate, and it would be good for you to sate your desires as well." I was halfway back to him.  
My reflection catched my attention, my nipples were erected, the skin covered with goose flesh, I shivered from the view I offered, and I had only a moment before someone touched me from behind. A warm good smelling body full of muscles, wet with the warm water of the tub. Al. I started to tremble; he licked a small line up my throat while I watched us in the mirror.  
I couldn't stop myself from mumbling an encouragement and he pressed against my bottom, both of us so ready without even the slightest bit of foreplay. He kissed my neck and lifted me off the ground, which sadly made me squeak very girly. Al brought us to the tub and warm lilac smelling water surrounded me, touched my skin, while my demon did the same. The first tickle of line-energy was building inside of me. I turned around to look into his eyes and received a kiss which was able to melt steal.

I fought for air, against him and the same time rubbing my alvus against his hard shaft, he hissed, licked over my lips and mumbled.  
"For one so unwilling you are pretty wet." His finger touched me and searched for my entrance. I cried aloud and opened my legs a bit more to give him access and he took it, his head went under water touching his lips to my clit. My own hands searched for anything to hold onto and the only thing they found were Al's silky hair and his shoulder.  
I gripped both of it harder than planned but I sensed his arousal at this treatment. His fingers entered, searching for a certain point inside of me, which he found rather fast.  
A loud lust-laden cry escaped my lips, and somehow I forgot why my normal answer to Al's little domination-sex-games had been to say no.  
My eyes found his hair, half closed; I licked my lips and sent my head flying back, so it could rest on the frame of this bathtub, becoming aware of the mirror above us.  
What was it with demons, circles and mirrors? I screamed again, because he bit my clit while his fingers found that point again.  
I writhed under him, even more spreading to feel more of this delicious sensation, my fingers rasped over his skin and left angry red marks. My grip in his hair became even more intensive, while I almost climaxed, my eyes went black and my will touched his soul, sending line-imbalanced through my demon.

He was above the surface so fast I couldn't have blinked in time. Al clenched his teeth and pain ran through him.  
"Stop, Rachel… stop."Panic marked him and he held me down while his weak aura tried to keep up with my beginning power-pull. I growled in frustration because the answer of his chi was missing, which amplified my efforts to provoke a reply.  
He whined while I fought to get more attention, suddenly cold metal touched my wrists holding them together and the line was drained from me.  
I knew instinctive what this was. Silver, fucking silver, he wanted to take me against my will, he should know better. My body began fighting on his own, his manhood still touching me but he wasn't at full size anymore and against everything I expected, he didn't entered me. The fury got worse and worse nevertheless, I wanted to kill him but I couldn't reach the lines, some liquid was forced down my throat and left me screaming because of terror. Whatever it had been it was a curse, the man above me invoked it, all will to struggle left me and I turned limb under him. I fought this sensation with all power I possessed, but slowly I drifted off to sleep. The last thing I heard was:  
"It's a sleepcurse, relax Rachel, you need it."

* * *

Al made Rachel forget about Ivy with a little help of the bond and her instincts. But his control isn't that much better than Rachel's and so he makes mistakes, like that one. He had to act or she would have probably killed him in dissatisfaction. How Rachel is gonna take his little action when she is awake once more is another question.


	21. Talking truths

**A demoness awakens XXI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part twentyone of my fic._  
**Side-fiction:** _There exists a side-fiction to this storyline, it centeres around a what-if scene from Newt and Dali (triggered in part 14). Newt runs out of curses to tame her lust, and Dali got the short straw because he walks in on her at that time. The idea just popped into my head.  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Ivy  
**Summary:** Rachel awakes again and checks her body and mind for traces of violation, after this she goes to Ivy's room to check up on her. She finds the vampire with a still broken arm and tries to talk Ivy into taking the curse Al gave her. Lets hope Rachel gets the right arguments.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXI: Talking truths  
**

**- Rachel -**  
Slowly I began to feel my body again, my thoughts returned together with it. I started analyzing what had happened yesterday. Al and I were about to get hot and heavy again, right in his bathtub, fucking embarrassing, and it turned out that hair on places a woman shouldn't have any, wasn't a turn off in the ever-after.  
Well obviously being a torturing demon wasn't a turn-off either, why the hell had I almost slept with him again? I hated that arrogant bastard and he had hurt Ivy, badly!  
This was the thought which finally shook my awake; I shifted my sight over his bedroom and saw the demon lying beside me. Other memories came back to me, like the one about the silver and the curse he gave me. I started to growl lowly, and inspected my wrists; the silver was gone. Just to check, I reached for a line, and came away with no differences to the usual feeling. I inspect the rest of my body next, searching for sore places and sighed in relief since I had none, so I assumed he hadn't raped me.  
Alone the thought about him doing that sent my blood boiling, and not the good way. My eyes found my demon again and I speculated about what curse he had given me. Short from waking him to ask, Ivy came back to the front of my head and I decided Al and his curse could wait. I seemed to be able to have clear thoughts as long as the demon was resting, why waste that.

I imagined the room she was trapped inside and jumped right over. It never felt so easy to do it, and after receiving Al's knowledge it had become second nature. The imbalance hit me right the moment Ivy noted me and I swayed on my feet, gripping the wall for support.  
She whimpered almost inaudibly and looked pretty bad, as white as snow, sweat on her skin, her black hair sticking to her head, and her eyes were decorated with dark circles under them.  
"Ivy?" Godness, I felt sick, and that I had almost screwed her torturer with all joy I could muster, made it even worse.  
"Rach… el?" My roommate asked like she wasn't able to see me clearly. Without thinking about it, I was right in front of her, my fingers touched her face and a tear fell from my eyes. I had left her alone, all alone in that place, with a broken arm, and I hadn't wasted a single thought about her, once I was alone with the demon. This wasn't like me, usually I would have fought Al until one of us would be lying face down, which normally was me, unless I could trap him in a circle first and sent him back to the ever-after. But I hadn't even argued about Ivy and her broken arm. This change truly sucked!  
"God, Ivy… I'm sorry." It sounded lame even to me; the vampire became more aware of her surroundings and receded from my touch. I let her, because everything else would remind me too much of Al's habitual reaction to force his will on other people.

"Let me help you, let me make this better. Did you take the curse?" I asked her and she focused her eyes on me, while she voiced a soundless 'no' with her lips.  
My slitted eyes searched the room for the transparent bottle of liquid while Ivy tried to force herself into a sitting position.  
"I'm not going to take it," were her first words beside my name.  
"Ivy listen, you look like shit, and there is no hospital this side of the lines, I don't dare to bring you back to reality with that Cormel matter unsolved. This really works. Look", I showed her my own, now once again intact hand, which she eyed over with a pained expression on her face.  
"Not worth it. It's a demon's curse, one of Al's, that you even suggest it. Rachel what has happened to you?" I found the bottle and used my rekindled hand to lift it. Her question was a good one; I asked myself the same question each few minutes unless Al distracted me.  
"You have suffered more than enough pain in the last few days; don't add to it by being stubborn. Let my bond with that awful creature, and my change of species be of some good use, take the curse." I tried to convince her.  
Her face twisted in something which might be disgust, but I wasn't sure, since pain was mixed in with the expression.  
"Ah, the good side of being a demon? Are you nuts, Rachel? There is no good side." I looked down and tried to remain calm, while she got the meaning of her words.  
"Oh shit, sorry I didn't mean that."

"Oh, yes you did. You just forgot that I'm now one of them and not the unlucky witch with the first prize of Kalamack gen-splitting treatment anymore. Don't worry about it. Just take the curse, I will invoke it and I will take the imbalance, since this condition is my fault."  
"Rachel, this is not your fault, the demon did this."  
"Yes, it is, he would have left you alone if I hadn't been too stubborn to accept his help."  
"This wasn't help, it was blackmailing and torture. Rachel don't believe him, he is a fucking demon, they lie!" She said and it hurt me a bit to hear her speaking about my mate like that. As soon as I became aware of that feeling I stomped on it. This mating shit sucked dishwater.  
"I'm not lying, I promised you a safe journey, I promised you that I would take care of Rynn, as well as that you would be brought back to reality. I'm not lying; don't make me a liar by refusing my help. He will not charge any payment for the curse, and you will not carry any blackness on your soul. It's win-win for you Ivy, I can't give you a better deal." I tried to reason with her.  
"Rachel are you listening to yourself? Are you even thinking about your own soul anymore? How can your damnation be a win-win for me?" Worry swam through her eyes.  
"I would feel better with the smut on my soul, than with you half dead. Beside, I think my soul was damned the moment I have been bound to Al. Please I don't know how long you will have to stay in Al's rooms, please don't do this to yourself, and to me." I kneaded my hands to get rid of the nervous energy.

"You really aren't kidding, are you? You want me to take that curse, and you want to use it. Tell me this is not your usual Rachel-has-to-save-the-world issue and not demon-instincts either." She demanded in her rough voice. Careful, I thought over why I wanted her to take it, and was silent for a long time.  
"You're my friend Ivy, I have dealt you so much pain, enough to make you lose it and go for my life. Even after I lost it you trusted me to keep you save in the ever-after. I see your pain, physical and emotional, and though I can't do anything about your feelings, let me at least free you off your fleshly ones." My eyes shifted to hers right the moment she looked away. She felt uncomfortable about the remindment of her inability to control her emotions.  
"I'm sorry for trying to kill you, Rachel, I didn't mean to." I touched her hand, and hoped with all my heart she would not turn her back on me. She didn't.  
"I tried the same, and it's still a shock that I'm that dangerous. I have to learn how this can be controlled, and even if Newt is not a great example when it comes to keeping herself in check, it must be possible, or demon-kind would have been extinct long ago." There had to be a way to become a decent living being once more.

Ivy eyeballed me over and sighed while shaking her head, I was about to plead with her, but she took the bottle and uncorked it. Her healthy arm came to rest on my shoulder.  
"I understand you have trusted me for as long as we lived together, you trusted me not to bind you after we tried for a blood balance. It helped me to find peace within myself; since you didn't fear me, and you weren't after the blood-ecstasy either, it's time I show that same trust to you." She said and retracted her arm, downing the demons curse in one go, coughing loudly in disgust afterwards.  
"That's nasty, how could you take stuff like that more than once?" Her eyes widen with worry and she took hold one my shoulder.  
"It's warm, is it suppose to be warm, Rachel?" Fear came up with her thin voice.  
"You will be okay." I said and nodded, well it never had felt warm when I took a curse, but I wasn't a living vampire, and I hadn't been a hundred precent witch either. Refusing myself to feel my own part of worry I fixed her eyes.  
"Ready?" Ivy just nodded and I closed my eyes, drawing in the line's energy through whatever made me able to reach the lines this far beneath the ground and invoked the curse.  
Ivy went misty and reformed, I opened my eyes to check and she looked like Rynn. I flinched back and she looked at me even more worried.  
"What's it?" anxiety spread through her and I draw a deep breath, assuring myself that this was Ivy.

"Well, äh… Al gave you a curse to look like…äh Rynn." I uttered somewhere between pissed and simply annoyed. I touched her once broken arm and examined it, while Ivy fought with this new fact. Abruptly she extracted her arm from mine and was at the other end of the room using her vampire speed.  
"I trusted you…," She complained and fingered her arm.  
"It's whole again." A thread of admiration followed her accusation and her fear diminished a bit.  
"Do you want to see the result, Ivy?" The vampire was trapped between curiosity and worry, but after drawing her hands over the muscular body of the undead she nodded.  
"Love to. Show me." I walked over to her and reached my elbow for contact and support, my ex-roommate took it and we jumped into the bathroom of my demon, right in front of his mirror. Ivy examined everything about her new form, even some parts of the anatomy you should keep your hands off while switching sexes.  
"Impressive, and it's real, as real as your red wolf and Jenks made big, is it?" Her eyes found mine and she flashed teeth while grinning. My breath catched and adrenalin flowed through my system.

"It seems that our little vampire likes the gift of the curse I chose. Good morning my two lovebirds," Al muttered from the doorway, only clothed with a dark green robe of silk.  
"By the way, it's very becoming of you Ivy, even if I like your other form more." Al came over to us and we watched ourselves in the mirror, before Ivy attacked the demon again.  
Al on the other hand just laughed, while he caught her feet, holding it in the air with an effortlessly which left me gasping in astonishment.  
"Dear Ivy, you have the appearance of the undead not their strength and speed. I'm in a good mood don't waste it." He let go of her feet and moved his eyes on to me, which left me starring unable to move myself, heat pooling into my middle. Ivy hissed at him and blocked my view of the demon.  
"Leave Rachel alone!" She ordered, which made him laugh in turn again.  
"Oh I love women who are demanding." Drawling in his British accent, he got closer to her, almost entering her personal space.  
I growled at this, sensing some instinct-driven jealousy coming up, not knowing who of them was the source of my anger, and who inspired my desire. Al rounded Ivy with a sidestep and touched my shoulder while his arm went around my waist. My breath speeded up a note and Ivy in Cormel's skin watched us with black eyes and her own portion of jealousy.

My head was almost swimming in longing and my words flew away as I sensed some part of my demons anatomy, which was entirely male.  
"Al, get off of me."  
"I'm not even on you, right now, though I would love to change that." He whispered, which was taunting Ivy even more, a low moan fell from my lips. Crap on toast, damn us all back to the turn; it made me hot like hell. Alone the thought of his promise made true almost let my press my ass on his bulge. What was up with those demon-hormones?  
"Al give me some room." Stupid demon, he always spoke about my instincts and control and he was messing it up each time we touched, unless our lives were on the line. So who exactly was the one with the control issues here?  
"So, straight was your problem, why you never slept with your attractive little girlfriend over there." His breath blew over the skin of my neck and I moaned again, this time louder.  
"Seems like being a demon has it's benefits after all, doesn't it. You could have switched her sexes long ago, why didn't you?" Al's tongue slipped over the skin and found my ear, while it took all of Ivy's self-restraint not to attack again.  
God I was practically melting in his arms, and the vampire was able to smell it all over the place, Al's question and Rynn's odd appearance gave my will some focus to collect itself. My hand touched the demons leg and searched for the snake in his trousers, it made him grip me more dominate, which made the spreading of fire in my veins worse.  
'Give yourself to me my mate.' He almost pleaded, his hot thoughts running through mine, almost crushing my bubble of own will, but it held.  
And then I gripped his erected member and twisted pretty painfully, sending a bit of line-energy into his body. Al reeled back and cursed colorful in Latin.

"Because," I turned on him, showing my back to Ivy, breathing harder than expected.  
"She is my friend, and I don't make her changing sexes just because it would solve my issues. I love her Al, more than I will ever love you. And she deserves a person who is able to take her, all of her without having to be male."  
"Ouch, thanks a lot Rachel that hurt. I only tried to help, nice thank-you gift by the way."  
"Helping, how the hell is manipulating me through this damn instinct helping anyone?" I snarled at him, while he slowly rose to full height again.  
"Rachel you aren't the only person with instincts in this room."  
"But I'm the only one who just got them on closing sale discount, for hells sake Al, you had over 5000 years to practice control, and Ivy had all her life, I haven't, so stop blaming your lack of will on me." I growled.  
"All right, Rachel when was the last time you had sex, I mean beside me?" He asked a little angry now. Ivy got closer to my back, since I was able to feel her body's heat and her pheromones. Oh, not another one trying to prey on my libido.  
"You know damn well, but if you want to hear it voiced aloud. Pierce and 9 days ago, satisfied demon-spawn?" I hissed into his direction and he smiled.

"Do you know how long it has been for me? I mean seriously sex, not the little games you can play with your familiars. You may take a guess, Rachel dove." Ivy's eyes seemed to burn on my skin and it felt damn good, but I wasn't in the mood. I wanted coffee and something to eat since the only thing I ate in the last 2 days had been a pizza, which was now resting on Al's kitchen-floor. I tapped a line and my hair went flying even this deep underground. Ivy stepped back, a bit of worry shifted through her.  
"Look, it's none of my damn business when you had sex last time; I'm not a blow up doll for your little demon-stick."  
"Oh little is not a way to described that part of my anatomy and you aren't my blow up doll Rachel." Great now he played hurt feelings on me, and it wasn't just a little bit.  
"You misinterpret the significance of a bond Rachel. Do you think I would share everything with a blow up doll? I mean serious you're holding a part of my soul."  
"Oh, I heard you last night, even if I was a bit out of myself. You said I took you against your will, more than once, so you technical didn't gave anything to me."  
"Wrong! Yes, you took me against my will, but I could have killed you right afterwards, even if females are stronger with the lines, we are the ones with the physical strengths. Messing with the lines had knocked you out cold, I could have strangled you in your sleep, and all your great powers would have been worth nothing." I made round eyes on him.

"Don't think I wasn't tempted Rachel. Oh yes I was, and I would have liked you dead on my bed, but sadly I would have missed our game of besting, the constant temptation you emitted, that scent of yours, the red hair and all the other stuff. You're a demon-candy with all the trouble, insolences and strong will. And I was the one who you thought was able and worth of holding you. So I accepted the bond by not killing you, and now both of us suffer the consequences." I almost fell on my ass, his honesty was unbelievable, I wasn't sure whether I found his statement good or bad. Hell, I had passed out in his arms, had given him the chance to finish me off, and he didn't. Both the vampire and the demon catched me before my ass met the floor, both starring at each other, red eyes finding black ones.  
"Guys I need room, both of you into opposite corners. I mean it." I growled while the pheromones of demon and vampire treated to rob me of my self-control.  
This was going to get difficult, my arousal was taunting Ivy's vampire-instincts and Al was using his pull to make me all hot. What was the demon hunting, I remembered the church, the moment Ivy drank from me and my eyes found Al.  
'Oh, tell me you aren't…' I uttered by the way of thoughts. Al's response was a grin as wide as the Grand Canyon, which made me sigh in complete annoyment.  
'Hey, a guy can dream.'  
"So you want to make out with another woman?" Something inside of me swirled around in anger.  
"Not another woman."  
"Ah, what then? Another guy?" Great, my demon was bisexual, as was Ivy, just my luck.

"Oh, not that I have a problem with another guy, but the reason I would invite your Ivy into my bed is not my own desire but yours."  
"I'm straight Al, did you forget that?"  
"You're straight," he laughed out loud.  
"There is no such thing as a straight demon. Not after 5000 years of pure male population, besides demons can switch their sex, as well as other people's sexes at will. We are attracted by other objects than sexes, power for instance, will, scent and many other things which hold a personal meaning for us. For you it might be friendship and the danger of betrayal what does it, beside you already confessed your love for that woman, so technically this is not straight behavior anymore." He grinned.  
"Shut the fuck up, I'm not screwing her." Ivy was dead silent behind me.  
"And why not? She is a man right now, so not a problem anymore, is it? But be warned, this time I'm not only watching from the sideline. Imagine how this might feel, a vampire and your demon, both at the same time." Al really was doing it, he projected his fantasies into my head and I found myself panting on my knees, none of them moved.  
"Stop that, demon; I never said I would be participating in that. Leave Rachel alone!"  
"Ah, I was waiting for that Ivy. You might be only a vampire but you're as instinct-driven as a demon. It's not impossible to make you as helpless as we both already are. It only takes a little curse to make demon-sex-hormones work for you." Ivy and I went ashen at the same time.  
"You didn't." We both exclaimed in utter bewilderment.

The demon laughed and walked over to me. Ivy's eyes found me and her gaze was pretty criminative.  
"I didn't know, I swear by God, I didn't knew anything about that." And it was the absolute truth; my head spun around to Al, just in time to see him throw the black bottle from the board at Ivy. She was still glaring at me, so she didn't react in time, and I was to slow as well. The bottle exploded on her clothes and the black oil soaked through them like smut through an aura to the soul. She fell on her ass and grasped in short breaths, cramping her fingers around Rynn's sack coat.  
"What did you do?" I bawled at Al's face.  
"Satisfying your hidden lusts my mate." He grinned at me wild and untamed which sent a hot shot of adrenalin and lust to my core. I really, really hated being a demon.

* * *

Only one comment to put at the end.  
"BAD DEMON"  
But it's fun as hell to write him that way. Rachel is attracting trouble like crap attracts flies, lets hope Al isn't as skilled as her. Or even entering a new level of trouble with that little action of his^^.  
I'm hoping you have as much fun reading it, as I had while writing it^^.


	22. Sneezing Rachel

**A demoness awakens XXII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series. This is part twentyone of my fic._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al / Ivy  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Ivy  
**Summary:** Al had used a curse on Ivy and wants a little threesome. How is the curse going to affect our beautyful living vampir? How will Rachel react to his daring? This one promised to be hot.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXII: _Sneezing Rachel_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
Ivy was face down on the warm tiles of the floor, taking a grip onto the stony surface and breaking fingernails while trying to control whatever magic was working on her.  
"AL!" I yelled in his face and was about to grasp his silk robe, but Ivy's wail of total agony distracted me long enough for my demon to step into my space.  
"Yes." Hi hissed down at me, his eyes as black as Ivy's, his scent even more alluring, despise myself I leaned into him.  
"Stop, fuck… ing with my… head! What was in that bottle?" His fingers touched my ass and hard fingernails touched the silk so careful that the potential of danger alone was making me cry out in lust.  
"The libido-amplifier and right you are, I should start to fuck something else." He murmured into my ears with hot air. My nipples went hard while someone else attached his front to my back, I sensed a bulge there as well; my pulse went amok with the sensation of it.  
"You… planned it. You intended … to use it on Ivy … from the very start." I whimpered while floated with heat, it was almost worse than the first time with Al.

Trembling fingers ran through my hair, a third pair of emotions found its way into my brain; I sensed arduous effort to control one self. Two hips pressed into mine, separated by thin layers of fabric, I cried out from that sensation and grasped my demons shoulders not knowing what I was suppose to do, unable to speak since I was afraid to give into this.  
"Rachel, this feels so… wrong and so… good all the same…" The man behind me said, his voice was Cormel's, but his aura was all Ivy's.  
I tried to analyze which might be worse, being done by Cormel or being done by Ivy in his frame. Ivy being in a man's body was weird as hell. Two auras entangled with mine and made my cry out even louder, my awareness touched a line and both of them got a share of my energy.  
Now it was time for both of them to moan loudly, a bit of desire mixed with despair was everything my inner demon needed to purloined my will completely and my fingernails drove through the fabric and skin of Al.  
He lifted me of the floor and my legs wind around his body, making Ivy behind me hiss and her fingers touched my shoulder, licking fine lines from my ear to my neck, while she pressed against my ass. A low grumble came from me and both of them grounded their hips into mine in unison. My will stretched around us and touched the two males through their auras. My fingers found my dress of white silk, smearing Al's blood all over my skin and the expensive dress, I pulled.

The thin layer gave way without any resistance at all and Ivy's hot tongue touched my shoulder, cleaning it of Al's blood. I leaned against his/her shoulders while she tasted it. My demon on the other hand ripped the fabric further and cupped my breasts with his warm hands, sending little portions of imbalance through me.  
"God… too… much…," I moaned in ecstasy, flowing both of them with energy from my chi. The main part of the force entered Al's chi, while it pooled out of Ivy almost instantaneous. Feverly touches ran over my breast and shoulders, not sure those hands were those, and I didn't care anymore, I was so hot for this.  
"Let me taste you… please, oh Rachel… please." Ivy whispered behind me, almost driving her sharp teeth into my skin. I felt like I was about to go insane with need.  
"Yes, yes, hell yes." And her teeth bit down, the first wave of orgasm came with it, more and more force from the line floated them both, Al took it all, even the bits meant for Ivy. My hand reached for Ivy's head and pulled her against my skin even harder.  
I wanted him and I wanted her, damn and there was no time for it anymore. My mind knew what I could do about this concerning my demon, so I reached for his soul sharing my sensations directly through our bond.  
Al went down to the floor, while he took the vampire and me with him. I sensed his release as if it was my own, but I felt bad about Ivy since she wasn't getting any of our sensation, I wanted her in it as well.  
I remembered the times she had drunken my blood before, how it felt and how I could give her back a part of my pleasure, so I touched her aura, took parts of it and replaced it with some of mine. She withdrew her teeth and screamed trapped between pain and utterly bliss.

My vision went white for seconds and Ivy laid half beneath me, wet pants pressing against wet white silk, still a bit hard, she was breathing hard. Al had his head between my breasts and was breathing as hard as Ivy and me. Slowly coming back to myself I became aware of the slow tickle of imbalance which flowed from Al to me. Was he up for a second round?  
"Hell, who teached you to do that?" He felt fully content, even if we had no intercourse at all. I shifted my weight a bit and Ivy moaned lowly. The sound evoked a shot of hot adrenalin again. What had I done this time?  
"Delicious my mate, delicious, but it's not enough, I want more, much more." He snarled steamy and almost soundless.  
"More?" I asked dumb folded shifting my weight again, another response from Ivy which now got a good look from me. She was still looking like Cormel, but she smelled of herself, her aura was partly tangled with mine, I sensed it even now.  
My eyes found Al's, which he understood as permission and kissed me hot and wild. I just wanted to ask him if that aura part was normal, but he silenced me in the probably most effective way he had.  
I was about to give in to the second round alone for our melted sensation which was still running full tilt; but I sneezed hard and Al stopped kissing me, draw back a bit and examined my eyes with a burning intensity.

"If you're summoned now, I'm in for a kill, regardless who it might be." His voice had dropped a few octaves and sounded utterly demonic, which to my astonishment didn't scare me even a bit; no, it made me desire him even more. A second sneeze hit me and I remembered my humiliation last time I had been summoned naked, I got off of Ivy and stepped to the side, gathering the remains of my dress.  
"Clothes, I don't want to jump without proper fabric on my skin." The Adrenalin got even stronger and I fixed Al with my eyes, sending a silent demand for some clothes. Al and Ivy just starred at me.  
"Don't make me repeat myself Algaliarept! Clothes!" I ordered with my own dark sounding voice.  
"Spoil sport, but we can't have your summoners think I wouldn't dress you up proper, can we."  
"Oh Al sometimes you can be sooo funny," I snarled dryly and he finally gave in to the rising anger inside of me. The stink of burnt amber rose and I was in one of Ceri's clothes, a long white linen dress with purple outlines and golden ornaments.  
I paused and watched his face distorting into a smirk.  
"Oh thank you very much." I uttered while I sneezed again, waiting for the pain to hit my guts, but it somehow didn't came. Ivy had excused herself and was in the corner farest from Al, it seems the lust-amplifier curse was nullified with her first orgasm.

His eyebrows raised and he began to snicker while neither I nor Ivy got it.  
"You aren't summoned Rachel, someone wants to talk to you. Let me guess you left your mirror in the church didn't you."  
The blood drained from my face as I remembered who this might be; there was only one person on the other sides who had a functioning mirror, and I couldn't imagine any demon calling me. Al reached for a line to summon my mirror; I grasped his hand and screamed.  
"Don't, it probably is with Trent, he has my mirror, I need…" another even more painful sneeze then the last left me.  
"I need another scrying mirror." This came out a bit breathless.  
"Why is the elf using your communication curse?" His eyes were glowing down on me, oh, shit Al was starting to get angry and I could feel it like a little flame right inside my chest.  
"Obviously, so he could talk to me, I need a mirror; he might have news on Ceri's condition." The rising fury vanished almost the instant he heard her name, a bit of curiosity mixes with slightest worry. I always forgot that the two of them shared a thousand years of being demon and familiar.  
"What's up with Ceri?"

"She might have given birth to her daughter by now, I asked Trent to give me news about it. Al can… äh… is it possible to use your mirror, even if it's not bound to my account?" He sighed and I sneezed again, almost losing balance while the hard part of it shook me.  
"It's possible; oh I would love to charge for that." My eyes found his and a low growl came out unbidden. It caused an even more resigned sigh; as he reached a line and spoke a quick word of Latin. With a grin in his face he handed the dust-covered glass of his own mirror. His was bigger, and it at a few glyphs on it which mine was missing. I wipped of the dust and sat down on the floor with eagerness in my veins. I touched the etched runes on the mirrors surface like Ceri had teached me almost a year ago. My mind reached for the line and there he was, Trent, his strange cool thoughts felt like leaves in a summer-night.  
'Trent?'  
'Hell, Rachel, irg… this really feels strange, is this normal.'  
'You mean the merging of our thoughts on the surface, yes it is.'  
'You're nervous.'  
'So are you. Thanks for calling, what happened, tell me Ceri is alright. Do you know anything about Jenks? What about the raid of the IS and the FIB, is Glenn alright as well.'  
I floated his mind with enough question to tilt his operation system, silent was my answer for at least a second, and it felt like years.

'Rachel, calm down. Ceri is okay, her daughter is well and sound too. Your church is a restricted area by now, both the IS and the FIB lost their claim on the case, since Homeland Security took over.' Oops, how had I gotten them on my ass, since when was the secret service messing with demon-summonings went wrong; this was a new one even for me?  
'Thank Godness they both are okay.' Relieve ran through me and he must have sensed it as well because he calmed down a bit as well.  
'Ah, Trent, how does it come that Homeland Security took over the case? I expected the coven to be all over it, but what's up with the feds, since when are they responsible for messed up demon-summonings?' I refused to remember the whole situation.  
'I don't know much about the coven, according to my intel they found a lot of nuclear radiation in your church right before the coven could shake down your place. It was even enough to close off 200 meters of the nearest environment. All the surrounding blocks of your church have been evacuated. What the hell has happened there? Rachel, you're the expert on demon magic, is this a demons work?'  
This was quite a shock, what curses did I use while I was inside that database? Would I have to ask Dali, or even worse Newt, to get an answer to this one? I never knew demon-magic was able to cause radiation. Hell, no wonder the surface of the ever after was a toxic wasteland. Maybe they used the curses against the elves, and polluted their world until living was only possible below the surface.

It didn't feel right, there had to be another reason, the curses were lethal but no memory of mine gave away a hidden potential of causing radiation. I would start with asking Al, at least he wouldn't … couldn't charge for it.  
I shook my head only getting a second later that Trent wasn't able to see it.  
'No I don't think it is, but I'm not completely sure, since I don't know what exactly they were using in that little fight. I will have to ask Al about it.' I withhold the information that I had been the one doing the fighting, no reason to spook the elf even more.  
'You call that a little fight?' Astonishment and disbelieve colored his mind's voice.  
'It's even a wonder the whole damn place haven't collapsed till now.' It sounded a little angry followed up with discouragement.  
'Rachel, promise you will not be angry at the bearer of the message.' I turned white with worry, I sensed bad news coming my way, probably about Jenks or Glenn, he never answered the questions about them to begin with. My stomach twisted into a hard knot, but I waited until he said something urging him on with my beginning thread of impatience.

'Ivy went missing. Last time she was seen in the church, now no one knows where she is.' Some of the weight in my chest left me, but it was replaced with a thread of shame about the last few minutes. Trent picked up my feelings and refrained from asking, but his thoughts were turning into light wonder and suspicion. I had to say something before he could start playing twenty questions with me.  
'Ivy is with me. What about Jenks and Glenn." The first sensation was a mild relieve until it was replaced by panic. The elf fought for control and mastered it fast. Instead of fear it was rage which was growing inside of his mind now.  
'With you? You're with the other demon, aren't you? In the ever-after?' Disbelieve and fury were fighting against each other.  
'Yes she is, I took her with me because Cormel cast her away from his camarilla and she would have ended up dead if I had left her in the church. I'm going to kick Cormel's balls up to the moon and back for it, until he puts his protection back over her. After that I will bring her back home." This time it I got a wave of puzzlement from him.  
'What has the undead to do with the matter?'

'That is a pretty long story, what about Jenks his family and Glenn? Trent don't make me ask again.' Worry and anger mixed together inside of me, since it couldn't be good if he refused to talk about it.  
Trent kept his silent for a few seconds more, which amplified the solicitousness a few grates, almost made it strong enough to jump over and beat the information out of him. He must have sensed it, since his feelings switched to annoyment.  
'He and his brood are pretty fine… they are occupying my garden, which is about to cost me my last nerve. I want to get rid of them, Rachel. Get that damn radiation out of your church and make them leave, I might even pay a part of the reconstruction, just get the pixies out of my garden fast, or I swear by Gods green gardens I will.' Total relief at his answer flowed through me. Thanks God, thanks for them being saved, thanks that I didn't kill anyone.  
My relaxation triggered a bit of stronger annoyment inside of the elf's thoughts but I couldn't care less. Ivy and Jenks were okay right now. I had the strong feeling that the elf would have growled at my happy thoughts, but he was a politician at heart and his self-control was better then mine.  
Trent and Jenks never have been best friends, and all his children at Trent's place weren't going to help matters. We had his brood in the church for two winters and they really were able to drive us insane.

'Rachel, I mean it, get them out of my garden…' A pulse of resolve went through him, and his thoughts turned even colder. I had the strong feeling he was treating Jenks, and I didn't like it much. He wasn't known for being a nice guy after he decided on a solution which included violence. I was about to give him a piece of my mind, but never had the time to do so, since a third set of thoughts entered our communication.  
'Stop threading my mate Trenton Aloysius Kalamack, and tell me more about Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate condition!' my demons voice resonated through the connection, with a little angry taste of burned fir.  
Even while he was angry a form of relaxation went through me, Trent on the other hand reeled back in utter bewilderment and closed his end of the communication, probably by throwing the mirror against a wall. Pretty, a new mirror to made, it wouldn't take me long to remember that curse by heart if I really would move in with Al. I would have to give a lot of people a direct line into the ever-after, my mother being on with of them, but what about Jenks and Ivy, none of them had a talent with the lines.  
My fingers left the mirror and my eyes found Al's, a low growl came from me.  
"Damn it Al, couldn't you fucking wait until I'm done, I would have told you?" I yelled at him and shoved my first into his gut, a puff of hair came out of his body and he sat up again, only now almost three feet away from me. He rubbed his stomach.

"Pretty violent, aren't you?"  
"My ass, great slave trader, like you're anything else but violent."  
"Oh I ain't violent … with you." He added at the end of his sentence and his eyes glimmered full of promises. I rose from the tiles and threw the mirror back, grinning at him.  
"Well, you have played enough games Al for this day, no more sex for you! Don't do anything to Ivy while I'm gone or I will really nail your balls to a wall. See you later!" My mind touched Minias mark which Al brought at the demon-courts the moment I became Al's student, the mark which I carried because Trent was predetermined to be my familiar.  
A low resonance came from the slashed circle and my mind sensed its other half calling from the other side of the lines. I matched my aura to the line and jumped, entering the network of lines, becoming them for a second and choosing the one which was next to Trent. I grinned in my mind at the fury face my demon must have right now, for showing me how to jump on my own. Damage done and I was free to go since Trent's call had been an invitation to come across.

* * *

So finally we see a part of reality again. One of Rachel's problems is solved but of course there is a new one waiting. I had to come up with a superior for the human-run FIB and decided to name them Homeland Security.  
I mean the IS has the Coven of moral and ethical standards, so it was only fair to creat a human equivalent to it, right?


	23. A demons birthday visit

**A demoness awakens XXIII**_  
_  
**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Trent / Quen / Ceri / Maria / Josephin / Jenks  
**Summary:** Rachel uses her new gained gift to jump out of Al's rooms, right into Trents. She wants to take a look on her child, and to apologize for what happend earlier. Is Ceri going to forgive her, how will Al take her disappearing on him, what will Trent think about Rachel popping into his rooms, unsummoned and not bound by his circle?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXIII: _A demons birthday visit_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
I misted into existence in his living quarters. Trent's eyes fixed on me the instance I was fully myself again. He screamed loud and threw the scrying mirror at me, I evaded it.  
So it wasn't broken before, but sadly it was now. Trent was going over the back of his white leather couch, hitting the ground hard. Quen entered the room with a red face and a ball of green ever after in his hand.  
I raised my own hands to signalize my pacific intentions, the brown haired elf stopped in the doorway, eyeing me over.  
"I told you it is a bad idea Sa'han." The warrior said with all compose he possessed.  
"Get rid of her." A thin voice came from behind the sofa.  
Quen looked to his boss; he was able to see him from his position, his eyes were almost pleading, but his questioning gaze didn't hold long.  
"Leave Rachel, just leave." I was about to utter a reply but a drop in the nearby line made my spin around just in time to see Algaliarept entering the scene.  
He had the right to jump in all the time, since he could always say he was checking up on me.  
A low growl fell from my lips, he looked exactly like me. Well, like my witchy self, but this was even worse than showing up as my demon self.  
"AL." I drawled dangerously and my fingers found his tank top, drawing him to me with an unknown dominance.  
"I hate it when you appear as me. How is more fear going to mollify them?" I screamed and a flash of line ran over my aura and encompassed us. A spell hit the outline of his circle and I turned to face Quen, I had forgotten anything beside the demon again. Fury rose inside of me, unbidden but strong nevertheless.

"You dare to?" I yelled at the now pretty white faced elf, Trent was standing somewhere behind him in the hallway, fingering his mobile open.  
Calmness entered me through my bond with Al and the demon shifted back to his British eighteen century noble-men self.  
"We are not here for you Trenton Aloysius Kalamack, neither are we here for your little dogsbody." Both elves lost even more color on their faces.  
"No one of you is going to get my daughter, even if I have to kill us all." The proud dark-haired men said.  
"We aren't here to snatch or hurt anyone." I looked down and shifted uneasily under the touch of Al's gloved hands, when had he last worn these things while touching me. Annoyed I pushed the thought away from me, again he was occupying all my brain cells, this was getting pretty old.  
"I'm here to visit Ceri, to congratulate her and to apologize for my behavior the last time I saw her." Al was getting angry with me.  
'Demons never apologize!'  
'Well, I do.'  
"I promise to behave, as does he." I pointed at Al and he hissed at me, which made me turn around, facing his red eyes.

"You want to see her as well, do you?"  
"Who?"  
"Ceri, you dumb-ass."  
"She was merely a familiar." But I sensed the lie behind that, maybe this was the reason why demons didn't lie, they knew the moment another is not telling the truth.  
"Fine whatever suit yourself, you can either come with me while behaving or you can stay here and wait, your choice." I sensed both of the elves starring at us and I couldn't withstand a side-way-glance. Trent was still white around his nose, but he seemed sure I was the one in charge; Quen on the other hand trusted none of us. If I put his freshly fatherhood into account I could understand his skepticism quite easily.  
My demon shifted his eyes over to the elves and sighed a bit beaten.  
"I will behave, as long as you and your men and women behave themselves Trenton Aloysius Kalamack. If any of you try anything funny I will level your house and labor with anything inside of it." His voice was back to his demon-is-pissed-off-state.  
"We will not harm anyone, and we don't take anyone with us. Please let us visit Ceri."  
I pleaded to soften Al's threats; Trent closed his cell-phone while shaking his head, sending almost translucent hair flying.

My eyes locked with his and I was halfway to offer him a deal for his life, freedom of Al's mark, freedom of his promise to become my familiar, for letting me and my demon enter Ceri's room. I sensed that it was important for the almost omnipotent creature behind me as well, and even if I would have liked to hurt him with rejecting him entrance into this part of my life, I just couldn't do it.  
I had seen enough of the cold ever-after and its back-stabbing and insane citizens to know that Al had probably unlearned how to trust anyone, let alone feel something resembling affection. Maybe I could change him, by giving him the chance to experience the good parts of being caring and friendly to other people.  
"I will go and ask her if she is okay with the demons in her room." Trent said and left through the hallway. Quen glared draggers at us, but even if they would have been made out of real steal it wouldn't have done him any good, we were save in Al's little bubble.  
"Tink's concealed hell, Rache." A loud high squeak echoed from the walls and Jenks flew into our view, dusting heavily in golden and black.  
"You're okay." He came to a halt in front of the black sheet and shifted his glance over to the demon.  
"Oh, great you again, thought you would be dead for good. We're gonna have a talk demon-spawn." The angry pixy touched the hilt of his sword but refrain from drawing it.  
"Where the hell have you been and what did you do to our church Rachel?" He asked angry, rounding the bubble of Al, like he was the demon and looking for a weak spot. The blond pixy wasn't the slightest bit surprised about Al's resurrection; maybe he dismissed it as a minor fact right now or he had expected something like that.

"I… lost it, totally lost it. I'm sorry for what I did. Please, tell me everyone is okay. Please don't let anyone be dead or hurt because of me."  
"Isn't she just the softest soul you ever met?" Al mocked the pissed off pixy, which wasn't very wise of him. I stomped on his feet to keep him silent, right the moment Jenks said:  
"Shut your pie-hole, I ain't talking to you demon." His tiny finger pointed in direction of Al's nose and the demon shut up, if it was out of curiosity, or just because he wanted to annoy us was beyond me, most probably both.  
"You almost killed my family you stupid girl and where the hell is Ivy?" Relief flowed through me as he said that; I obviously hadn't killed any of his kids. It didn't last long because he mentioned Ivy's name. My pulse quickened and I bit my lip, hoping he wouldn't pix me for taking her with me.  
"She is at Al's." Jenks dust switched utterly black.  
"Oh great, you really have done it now!" He yelled in rage.  
"Wait Jenks, she is fine, Rynn might have killed her if I would have left her behind." I tried to pacify the mad pixy.  
"And what's the difference to your intention earlier? You tried to kill her first! Beside I had a talk with Glenn about what happened in the church between you and her." A bit of red color entered the black dust, which wasn't any better than before.

I twitched lightly, which made Al intensifying his grip on my shoulder, sharing more of his inner security with me. I gulped, since it felt absolutely strange, wrong and right all the same.  
"Basically she tried to off me first, but we talked it over, everything is fine… so far." But if it would stay that way was another question, since we almost had a curse-inflicted threesome, and I had no idea how Ivy would take the curse-inflicted and the threesome part. I knew she love me, but she hate Al, so that situation was a big fat unknown in my mind.  
"Rynn ordered her to bind me, but she couldn't, he might turn her into a blood gift. Like Piscary did with Kisten, I couldn't survive this happening to Ivy. Until matters with the undead are taken care of she stays at Al's" He fell silent at that and eyed me over in worry.  
"Why should the vampire do that and Rachel, äh that demon is messing with your aura."  
"Simply, because she disobeyed his order, master-vampires don't like that much. And if Rynn Matthew Cormel gets word why Ivy's attempted on my mate's soul failed he will start to kill people. Ivy would just be the first one to go." Al said while his head rested on my shoulder.  
"I… know he is … but, it would be better to talk about this another time, since we are not alone Jenks." I said accepting what Al did to my aura right now, since I had the feeling without his interference this talk would spin out of control really fast.  
"This can't be healthy, Rache. He is a demon, and his aura is really black."  
"It feels good… somehow…"

"You lost her Jenks." Another female voice rose from the hallway. Trent was moving a wheelchair out of wicker mesh, and sitting inside of it was Ceri warped into some warm fur holding a little package in her arms. My demon let his hands slitted off of me and went for the outlines of his circle. A low grumble came from me and my hand grasped his arm. He was not going without me, and he wasn't going to touch anything but me in this room, especially not the woman he had slept with in the past. I gasped at the intensity of my jealousy and let go of Al's arm. His eyes found mine, as if he knew exactly what I had just felt, touching fingers to his bubble and the ley line charm went down, sending its energy back through our chis to the line.  
Jenks was right between us and Ceri; he appeared lost, I tried to smile at him, tried to assure him I would be fine, and anything was going to be okay.  
Quen was eyeing us over like we were walking time bombs, we probably were, Trent was behind Ceri and looked helpless, while another person entered the room.  
A woman somewhere in her fifties, thin as hell, tale and ugly, black hair with grey strands and I knew her. Dr. Anders had flunked me in ley line classes at the university, twice, before she got herself official murdered to enter Trent's team of genetic engineers, leaving me alone with a witch murder to catch and a familiar bond to my ex-boyfriend Nick. Our eyes met, hers gray like storm clouds and mine green like grass, goat-slitted like a demons. She paused, and the time seemed to slow down between us.

"Mr. Kalamack?" She asked while coming to the same altitude Quen and Ceri were at.  
"Ah Josephin Anastasia Anders, so you survived after all; this is interesting Trenton, really interesting I assume this is your doing." Al laugh and Dr. Anders switched her gaze with the rimmed ley line glasses to the demon which had his hand on my shoulder again.  
She cleared her throat and I sensed her concern. My eyes shifted to Ceri and I began to proceed slowly into her direction. I didn't want anyone to freak out.  
"Ceri I'm sorry. I …"  
"I heard about Al and the church. What happened?" I looked at the audience and shook my head.  
"Too many listeners in this room, I would talk to you alone but I don't trust the other ones." I flashed Quen a smile of apology and Trent one of slight annoyance, was I catching up Al's moods again, or was this just myself.  
"And I don't trust you." Trent said a bit hurt at my statement. I turned to keep an eye on the demon, but he wasn't minding anyone but the ex-ley line professor. This intensively was unusual and I was about to utter the question the moment Al reached the woman, she tried to evade but he had her in his grasped before she could do anything to defend herself.  
Al reached for a line and slashed it through the woman, which screamed in pain.

"What the hell?" I asked before Quen came from the side grasping my hair and pulling me into his body, holding cold steal to my throat. Adrenalin flashed through me.  
"You broke our agreement demon. Let go of Dr. Anders, or Rachel meets her end."  
Ceri's eyes were round and the beautiful elfin's face was red with the first hint of fury.  
My demon glutted Dr. Anders with even more line energy, turned to face Quen and twist the professor's hand.  
"STOP IT!" I shouted at that hopeless demon, while he stopped using the force on her. She went limb in his grip and a little syringe fell to the floor and cracked.  
"Who was breaking truce first elf? Beside I would reconsider this action of yours; females are not any less dangerous than any other demon you know." He grinned and I scowled at that behavior, wasn't he suppose to protect me. Instead he was taunting the warrior-elf.  
"What was in that syringe?" I asked while a sick feeling about the treatment-thing came to settle inside of my stomach.  
Ceri rose from her chair, the moment I sensed the metal beginning to slit my skin. Fury began to rose; the line was inside of me a blink of an eye later, without me willing it to. I aimed, but Ceri's outburst brought me back in time.  
"You will stop this nonsense, now, all of you! That woman acted on her own; at least I didn't knew anything about that. Trenton you must be more stupid than I thought, Quen let go of Rachel!" She ordered like she was the master here, and with her translucent her flying from the lines power she looked the part.

Quen indeed did what he was told. The demon let go of Dr. Anders and smiled at Ceri, somehow proud. Again the thread of jealousy entered me, but I was enough of myself to refrain from assaulting her. I turned to Quen and touched my throat, coming away with a little drop of blood.  
My eyes found his and he stepped back two feet, readying himself for an attack.  
"Rachel, Al you came to see me and my daughter didn't you. This is Maria." She said and again my attention swirled from Quen to her.  
Al was in front of his ex-familiar and looked at the newborn elf, the feelings of my demon ran through me, but I wasn't able to separate them, it was like a big lump, all mixed up.  
Curiosity and gratitude flowed through me, and these were my own feelings since I was able to place them correctly. I left Quen where he stood, even forgetting about his weapon and came to stand next to Al in front of Ceri. She was beaming at both of us.  
The blond woman felt joy and satisfaction. Her eyes found mine.  
"Thank you Rachel." She said and I needed a few seconds to get it. She was thanking me for retrieving the elf-sample which enabled Trent to save his race. Curing the curse the demons placed on their offsprings.

She shifted her gaze back to Al, almost ordering him to step back. The demon astonished me by obeying that unspoken plead, he placed himself between me and Quen, maybe for protection, maybe for irritation.  
Ceri smiled at me, and she looked really beautiful when she did that.  
"May this be the first step to end the war between elves and demons for good; thank you for making my daughter whole." A thread of pure joy ran through me as she passed me the little silent girl. Just to be sure I gave her a questioning look out of my goat-slitted eyes, but the new mother didn't even flinch. She trusted me, which gave me a new portion of strength to fight against my demonic-heritage. I took the girl and hold her in my arms; she was light and almost the length of my underarm, small and innocent. My fingers touched the white linen and fur what kept her warm and hidden. Eyes green like fresh leaves entangled with mine, and I couldn't help it but I was mesmerized by that glance. A little thread of liquid traveled down my cheek. She was as beautiful as her mother, and she smiled at me, even laughing that typical childlike giggle.  
Joy about that new life, Ceri's happiness and pain about what my own children would look like, let alone the destiny of my unborn daughter mixed together and I felt Al's hand attaching itself to my shoulder. He risked a peek over the same, but never tried to touch Ceri's child.

"She is beautiful, your daughter." Alone the knowledge that this girl would be able to survive her childhood without any genetical treatment at all made worth being Al's student. Jenks came to land on Ceri's shoulder, the look of slightest worry on his face.  
"Yes she is." He said, but it was nothing more than a statement, maybe to remind me about his presence. My eyes found him, and a little sad smile curved my lips.  
"I'm sorry for the thing what happened in the church, Jenks." He raised his eyes from the little girl to eyeball me over.  
"Tinks wings on a grill, you scared the crap out of me, never seen anything that spooky, never do that again Rachel."  
"Trying not to, I'm sorry for all the things I did since I… I …"  
"Turned demon." Al finished the sentences I didn't dare to complete. I withstood the compulsion to react to it. And anyone did the same as me; we ignored Al, which of course he didn't like much.  
"Believe me Jenks, I'm even more scared than you, since I'm the one who did it, and I had no power to stop it." A new giggle came from the little girl, which was starting to play with my finger. A smile curved my lips, what was it about little kids smoothing ones soul to an extreme that you could forget all the bad things in your life for a moment.

"Rachel, may I ask you to be Maria's godmother and protector." My breath stopped for seconds and it needed a demon nudging me to start it up again. His eyes were on Ceri as well as everyone's but Maria's, since she was looking at me.  
"You… you …" I was speechless.  
"You can't." Quen tried to prevent that event, but the words were spoken. Al was deadly silent at my back and Trent about to get a cerebral bleeding.  
"She is a demon." He said the first thread of real fury arose inside of him, which got him a warning look from Al.  
"Yes she is, but she also went with you to save us all" Ceri said with her usual serenity I envied for as long as I knew her.  
"She went with me to exchange names with that one." Trent almost screamed, losing his calm in anger, he pointed his finger at the demon, which was still standing behind me, but he wasn't utterly emptiness of emotion anymore, he was wary of Trent.  
"Don't forget she also rescued me and my soul. Rachel could have left you to rot in the ever-after, sold of as a familiar to some demon; instead she made a deal with Al to rescue your ungrateful ass." Ceri turned around to fight him with her stare.  
"She literally gave up her place under the sun for you. If she hadn't stolen his name, and the sample she wouldn't have ended up as a demon. Beside Maria is my daughter and I want Rachel as her godmother, if she accepts that is." The proud elfin turned back to me.

"I… I'm honored, and yes…" My own eyes traveled down to the young girl, letting my finger travel over her cheek, which made her giggle again. I beamed up at the mother.  
"Yes I want to be her godmother."  
"And how is she going to enter the cathedral for the baptism, she is a freaking demon." Quen asked with a thread of bewilderment in his voice.  
Jenks shifted his wings and came to stand on Ceri's shoulder, Peter Pan pose at its best.  
"If it comes to the impossible Rachel is your girl to go. We will find a way." He grinned, slowly beginning to trust me again, at least according to his feelings.  
"Ceridwen may I ask you who the godfather is going to be?" The silent demon behind me asked her.  
"This is going to be Trenton, since he made her whole as well." The elf nodded with proudness in his upright stands.  
"Wow, making an elf and a demon a matching pair, I like that." Jenks said dusting golden sparkles.  
"Well, I don't." My demon growled a bit with his eyes on Trent, which made the man shiver from fear. I knew Al was jealous of the elf and somehow I reacted instinctive by stepping into Al's body. The demon lost his focus on the other male and glanced at me inquiring.

I on the other hand ignored him completely, smiling at Ceri, still holding Maria in my arms. She really didn't care about me being a demon. Thoughts entered mine.  
'Hasty decision my mate. Being a godmother to this child means, you accept to protect her from any danger, including demons.'  
'Means even if Ceri teached her to store ley line energy she will not end up as a demons familiar. You don't know how I love that Al.' Maybe this was one of the reasons the old elfin was choosing me as a godmother, but it was nothing to bitch about since it was win-win for both of us.  
'Basically correct, but it also means, if she ever goes into demon-summoning business you will be the one answering to the collecting demon.' Okay this was somehow a cold shower for my enjoyment.  
'So you will collect from me, ah … by the way, Al you said everything of yours is mine, well then it has to be the same with marks. As soon as we are back at the other side, you're going to take off your marks. You know, I can not own myself, do I?' I grinned at his face as he turned red, white hot fury shot through me.

"What's going on?" Jenks asked and Ceri answered maybe everyone's question in the room.  
"They're talking via mind, like a familiar and a demon, only without the slavery part of it."  
I sensed a part of Al's control slip his grasped and stepped next to Ceri, facing the demon with the child on my arm. Glowing eyes found mine, and a low growl came from him. Quen was between him and his woman, Trent behind them, Jenks in the air beside me with a drawn blade.  
"Jari …" he spoke the first syllable of my summoning name which sent a surge of ley line through me, shaking awake that part of me what seemed to be the essence of my inner demon.  
"Don't you dare to betray my trust." My hair swirled from the power I was drawing, my voice was liquid darkness. I had slipped from Rachel Morgan to the demoness Jariathjackjunisjumoke in lesser than a second. Worry exploded inside the room, and I sense the darkness of knowledge collecting with me again. This time I knew it was the touch of the demons database; it stilled me for a second while I faced down my demon.  
I sensed him realigning his thoughts.  
"I will not take off my marks." He whispered stubborn.  
"Oh yes you will, this is not a negotiable matter." The darkness touch the aura of the girl in my grip and the little child began to wail at its touch. The sound touch another part of my soul and my glowing green eyes found the little one, smelling of elf, but there was no hatred or even disgust inside of me.

Even to my demonic side it looked beautiful, promising, potential something worth of protecting, something worth of controlling. Another woman's hands touched mine.  
"Rachel?" Her aura was the same as the child's, she was the mother of that little innocent being and my eyes shifted from Maria to Ceri, taking the dark threads of the databases touch from her aura. Ceri was laden with panic and withstood the pull to take a grip on her daughter, probably knowing how it might end.  
"Have no fear Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate; I will not bring harm to your daughter, my word to protect her stands." Al shifted his weight and my eye switched back to him, warningly.  
"Would you give her back to me, Rachel?" It almost sounded like a plead and my eyes found hers again, the glowing was gone and a piece of understanding seemed to pass between me and her, I sensed a smile curving my lips.  
Everyone else's wary went up a few notes, slowly and very careful I gave the girl back to her mother.  
"We have got a deal." I said and Maria was save in her mothers arms again, but the elfin didn't look very happy.  
"A deal? What deal?" A thread of real anger came to her eyes.

* * *

There was a little surprise in the end. Of course one of the demons has to cause some troubles, only question is, which one is it this time?


	24. The meaning of Godparenthood

**A demoness awakens XXIV**

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Trent / Quen / Ceri / Maria / Jenks  
**Summary:** Rachel's instincts have made a quick return thanks to one really carefree demon, and now she is facing down the mother of Maria with a deal. What exactly are the terms of this deal, what are the remaining elves going to do, and will Al remove his marks?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXIV: _The meaning of Godparenthood_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
"You took a demon female as her Godmother. It means safety from my kin, but it also means if she ever decisions to summon one, it has to be her." Al interfered suddenly collected again.  
Her eyes went round and she hid her daughter behind the fur.  
"Don't tell me you want her as a familiar." Betrayal blossomed in her chest, I shook my head.  
"Your worry is not without reason but she is meant for higher purpose than ending as a demon-familiar."  
"And that might be?"  
I shrugged and even I didn't understand what that part within me was talking about, dizziness came again and I staggered, landing in my demons arms.  
'Sorry, for almost dropping your summoning name. I lost my balance; we will discuss the matter of the marks later.'  
'What did you do? I feel cold.'  
'Sh… everything is going to be all right.'

Quen embraced a trembling Ceri, she looked pale, was angry and afraid but she didn't say anything. She had been dealing with demons longer than I was alive, and she probably thought, that she couldn't withdraw her word. Trent was standing beside them; eyeing me over with fury, his whole stance screamed 'See I told you so', but he didn't say it out loud.  
'What did I do?' Jenks was dusting his color of worry.  
'You proved to be a demon again, but don't panic, you hurt no one. And your instincts seem to be fond of Maria.' Oh his couldn't be good.  
'What does it mean that my instincts are fond of her?' I asked with a bit of extraordinary wariness.  
'It basically means that you're going to protect the girl until she is old enough to be used for any purpose which comes to your mind.' Now it was my moment to turn white. Ceri's eyes were on my face and she screamed low but catched in utterly terror.  
All eyes found the new mother again and everyone was a bit of clueless what was going on.  
I grasped Al's collar and draw him to me, my movement amplified from Ceri's fear.  
'Say something you idiot, say something to calm down Ceri, something useful!'  
His eyes found Ceri's and he helped me to my feet.  
"Maria would have ended up with some demon anyway…"  
'Oh hell thanks, this really is helping matters.' I sent utterly sarcastic.  
"Rachel is probably the softest of my kin you can find and I'm pretty sure your daughter is not going to end up with any disadvantages out of the deal you just made."

"Al…" it sounded questioning and hold a tiny bit of the way she used to speak after I tricked her from Al. I didn't like it, since it meant she was relying on him in this matter.  
She shifted her glance over to me, while Quen hold her and Al hold me.  
"You're sure about that?"  
"Pretty much," he looked at the broken mirror. How many mirrors of my creation met their end until this day?  
"Mh… looks like you will need a new mirror to call us in for the baptism." Quen looked even whiter around his nose. Trent shook his head.  
"I will not have two demons at her baptism." He stated firmly, getting a good look from Al.  
"To your disappointment, Rachel must be present to give her godmotherly present of protection to Maria."  
"It's a curse isn't it?" Quen asked while Ceri remain silent, she beside Al might be the only person in the room to know it for sure, and I was betting good money on a big fat 'yes'.  
Al nodded at that. Trent gave a frustrated little grumble and looked helpless at everyone.  
"I will not let a demon curse my child, especially not while she is still that young. Who tells us you aren't gonna rekindle the war's curse?" The dark-haired elf said with a look of finality on him.

"Tell, what about that curse would be protective?" Al asked the man with a bit of annoyment in his British accent. I sighed, letting my mind run at full speed.  
"We could twist the curse in a kitchen this side of the lines, Ceri knows most of the curses they regularly use, and she will know the moment something goes wrong." Both the demon and the mother were starring at me.  
"Unless you want to do it at Al's kitchen," I added, maybe only to irritate everyone, Jenks was making a sound of dislike with his wings. He had been unusually quiet the whole time.  
Ceri turned even more ashen and shook her head.  
"No this side of the lines is fine." Her gaze went to Al, inquiring him to say something.  
"It's fine with me, how about your kitchen, Rachel?" I raised my head to look him in the eyes, it might have been a solution, but the church was almost a ruin and if what Trent had told me was true we should stay away from there.

"Oh… this ought to be funny, demon-boy getting his balls fried by radiation. I want to watch that one?" Al raised an eyebrow at the pixy which was resting on Ceri's shoulder again.  
"Radiation? What the hell are you talking about?" My demon sounded confused, and it wasn't an act, since he felt the part.  
"Homeland Security sealed the church and the surrounding area because of it." Trent said like Al was playing him foul, normally the elf would be right, but this time Al was innocent. Something must have been wrong with my life if I used the word innocent on a demon.  
"What the hell were you using to cause that?"  
Ceri looked over to Trent, her glance went distant.  
"What ever the hell caused this, we aren't at fault." He crossed his arms.  
"Like it would be the first time you have lied, demon." Trent was coming closer, getting a good hard stare from Al.  
"Trenton Aloysius Kalamack it might be a disappointment again but demons don't lie, that you misinterpret our statements is not our fault." My demon grinned at the elf, while his ears turned red.

"Don't get cocky; misleading people is a demons second nature."  
"Yes, it is, but it's not our fault that most of you aren't able to ask the right questions." Al was getting angry and so was Trent. I watched the two men tattle with each other, tipping my fingers on the wood of a chair.  
"Okay, demon, does there exist a spell, curse, charm or anything else to cause radiation or clear it out?" The politician asked, Al grinned, I sighed and the demon added:  
"You don't even ask how many marks you will own me for that answer." He snickered and I growled lowly.  
"Al, I want to know that too, is there a spell, charm, curse or any other magic demons use to cause that effect." He looked at me like he had swallowed something nasty, his shoulders dropping an inch, defeated.  
"Rachel you're really killing the fun out of being a demon. No, we don't use magic like that."  
I remembered Trent's treat about Jenks in his garden.  
"Is there a way to clear it out… make the environment normal again?"  
"Not as far as I know." He said very quietly, we both got stares from everyone else in the room, maybe because Al gave information for free, and he never did that.  
"Are you satisfied, Trenton?" He growled at him and his mood was getting worse with each comment.

Trent looked disappointed.  
"And how do I get rid of the pixies now?" The blond man sighed.  
"That's truly not my problem elf." Good thing everyone her knew what Trent, Quen and Ceri were, or Trent would be pissed, most probably at me. The demon was up for saying more, Trent almost waited for it and I was deadly sick of their games.  
"Okay stop riling each other up, that doesn't solve the problem of the kitchen-matter, back to the main topic!" I ordered and Jenks snickered at my outburst, I made a pause for dramatically reasons before I dropped the idea what just appeared in my mind.  
"Maybe we should use Trent's." I suggested, getting a black gaze from the two elves-males at the same time, a little smirk ran over my lips. It had been fun to jerk Trent's chain once in a while, even as a witch I enjoyed it very much. Good to know some things about my psychic were still the same, even after turning demon.

"My kitchen, are you insane?"  
"Trenton Aloysius Kalamack it's either your kitchen, our mine, unless your little elf-party decisions to simply trust us. So what is it gonna be?" The demon licked his lips, sending a slow impulse of heat to my core. Oh, just great my libido was back online.  
The blond man looked down onto his feet and was silent for seconds; I almost thought that he wouldn't answer at all, until he said.  
"Mine…"  
"Good, I will make a modified calling mirror for this little household in about…" Al reached into his breast pocket and extracted an old golden watch on a chain.  
"Four hours, until then we will take our leave." He smiled brightly at all the elves.  
"No one is gonna use it." Trent said furious about Al's easy statement.

"Suit yourself, if we are not in the baptism it's a violation of our agreement. Ceri love, tell him how the demon courts will screw over the person breaking its word." He smirked again, and I felt a cold shudder running through me at the mentioning of Dali's position.  
Ceri turned to Trent and shook her head.  
"There is a reason why demons stuck to the stuff they agree on once summoned, a demon ends up in a bottle and a mortal lost his or her soul to the demon. I don't want my soul with Al ever again." She said and Trent looked like he didn't know what exactly he should think about that.  
"Why the hell have you asked her to be Maria's Godmother?" Trent cried out in utter frustration.  
"How am I supposed to guard her, when her own mother does something stupid like that?" He gestured wildly.  
"First thing she owned her position as much as you did, maybe even more and second I didn't knew it would end with my little girl cursed."  
"You don't know the curse going with that?" Trent figured out and was horrified.  
"No I don't, where has never been the need to twist that curse. Demons haven't had children for over five thousand years."  
"Well, however, I'm sick of it. Rachel pack up your demon and leave, I will show you the mirror for the charm, once you're back. Oh I really hope my witch is not dead." He eye Al over with a murderous fury which was triggering my instinct.

I gripped my own arm so I would not lose control over something so small as a gaze, Jenks worried figure moved between Trent and me, he clearly guessed right that it might went south from here.  
"Are you okay Rachel?" He asked and I shook my head.  
"It's hard to control it… "  
I answered the pixy, while Trent walked over to the downed witch with angry little strides.  
She didn't look very well with the blood coming from her nose. I glanced at Al who was shrugging innocently.  
"She will be okay in a few days, don't worry." He got down on his knees raising the little syringe which had been in Dr. Anders hands earlier.  
Trent made a grasp for it but Al was faster and held it out of the elf's reach.  
"Give that back to me demon!" The man didn't gave up afterwards and tried it again; he even leant into Al, which made me raise my eyebrows at that.  
Trent was one of the pickiest people when it came to touching or being touched by other people, and he was voluntarily touching a demon, what was wrong with that picture?  
Something about this didn't felt right and obviously my demon shared my opinion, since his free arm went around Trent's waist and drew the elf into himself even more. Quen tensed and was ready to interfere, which got a deep angry growl from me. I was standing next to Ceri and he wasn't sure who might need more protection, his Sa'han or his fiancé, the despair began to taste promising, but the voice of my demon switched my focus back to Al.  
"Oh oh, feisty my pretty little elf-boy, why didn't you say that you had it in for me, I could make your wildest dreams come true." The hand tapping Trent against the demon went onto his ass.

Fuck that was a sight, Trent always had been attractive, muscles at the right places and athletic. I remembered what Al had done to Ivy right in time to watch Trent twining himself out of his hold. His breathing was ragged but more because of fear and anger than anything like excitement, his head was red, and he was at the loss of words right now. The demon on the other hand was laughing full out.  
"I will take this with me. But if you're so desperate to get it back, it will cost you; either it's a mark or one night at my mercy." The elf hissed at him and Al stepped into Trent's personal space again.  
"What will it be?" Trent was turning ashen, he shook his head with the demon's face 4 inches from his own.  
"Well then, take it." The blond bachelor muttered and stepped back quickly, he just gave him permission to take it without legal consequences.  
"What do you want with that syringe anyway?" I asked warily.  
"Want to know what the witch was carrying to inject into you, and if it is anything dangerous she will end up as my new familiar."  
"What about Pierce?" My pulse speeded up.  
"After what he did, he is not going to be my familiar anymore, I will sell him."  
"You can't take Dr. Anders; you said we will not hi-jack anyone." The demon rolled his goat-slitted eyes at my comment, I kept silent about the witch, he was able to take care of himself.  
"Never said I would take her today, did I?" He grinned at me and a light headache was starting with a bit of throbbing.

"You're not going to take my witch." Trent said furious which made the demon turn around to him.  
"Just to prevent any future misunderstandings, I don't see any mark of your creation on her body or soul, Trenton Aloysius Kalamack you're not a demon, so our way of annexing others doesn't work for you. Ah and by the way I would rather start worrying about yourself since the only reason why you're still walking this side of the lines is her reluctance to forge the bound." Al grinned like he was moving in for the kill; the syringe vanished from his finger with a soft rise of red smoke. His fingers found Trent's arm and the elf started fighting, while Quen finally decided his boss needed his protection more, so he tried to get between them, which wasn't easy for him because Ceri was hanging onto him, pleading not to interfere.  
"By demon-law you're hers, which means you have no claim if she decided to take you with her. And since she owns anything of mine, and I everything of hers, I could just take you without any violation of agreements. So do you want to taunt me further now, little elf-boy?" He drawled in his British accent.  
Jenks gave a battle-cry and was above them in a blink of an eye. Worry slipped through me and I was halfway over to the guys before I realized Jenks was not attacking but pixying the two of them. I came to a halt and watched the men screaming as they realized.

* * *

And there you go, Trent and Al quarrel, like elves and demons are suppose to. Maybe it was a bad idea of the elves to kill all the females, since they seemed to be the only people with enough common sense to stop that stupidity. How are Rachel and Ceri going to get the situation back under control. ^^


	25. Raided

**A demoness awakens XXV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Trent / Quen / Ceri / Maria / Jenks  
**Summary:** Jenks pixed Trent and Al, after this Rachel pays his family a visit while her demon is off doing his own stuff.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXV: _Raided_  
**

**- Rachel -**A smile ran over my lips, and I raised my thumb at Jenks, what a nice idea, couldn't have come up with anything more suitable.  
He grinned and finally landed on my shoulder.  
"Yeah eat this you silly little fairy fart sniffing bastards!" I laugh with him until the itching seeped through the bond and I could feel it as well as Al. Strangely Jenks attack wasn't triggering my instincts, maybe because I knew a pixing wouldn't be a treat; just fucking uncomfortable for the pixed one.  
Al went misty and reformed beside me.  
"I think we are done for now, thanks for pixing him Jenks, he might have learned his lesson."  
"You aren't taking Trent, Al!" I ordered the demon angrily.  
"No, I'm not, not now anyway. Let's go, there is a second matter to take care off before we will spell one of Trenton's mirrors and after this is done little pixy-man here can bitch at me for fucking your brains out." He grinned while I punched his upper arm, turning red. Jenks wasn't so sure whether he should laugh with the demon about this comment or not. He decided not to.  
Al took my elbow and bowed to all the people in the room, before he led me out through the terrace door, turning on his heels the moment we were under the threshold.  
"See you soon." He eyed Jenks over who was still sitting on my shoulder.  
"Will you come with us?" The pixy was airborne and about to get in Al's face.

"Don't start screaming before you know where we are heading." I sensed him entering his playful mood again and spoiled it before Jenks could get really angry.  
"I will kick Cormel's balls to the moon, for forcing Ivy to bite and bind me. I would like to have you for backup." Jenks flashed a shit-eating grin at Al, dusting silver sparkles.  
"See big bad demon, you ain't enough to keep her save, you hear that, she wants me as backup." I grumbled lowly.  
"Jenks don't taunt him. And Al don't even think about answering that. Al you're a strong demon and I never said anything else, but I have never been on a run with you, and Jenks is my friend and partner for years. He is the best backup one can think of, and Cormel might be waiting for us to show up, it's never wrong to have some extra muscles with you."  
The demon laughed full out and cleared a tear from his eyes after he had enough air again.  
"Extra muscles, what muscles are you referring to." I rolled my eyes at that and looked at Jenks, dusting a dark angry red.  
"He's not a people person, is he? That demon is even faster with pissing off others than you Rachel. You're going to need my help, I'm with you. So what happens next? Driving over to Cormel's?" He landed on my shoulder again, his trust meant a lot to me.

"Driving? You're kidding, aren't you?" Al asked. "Why should we? He is only a line-jump away from us."  
"He expects Rachel to strike. Remember white earth witch, with a little talent for the lines. If he knows about her turning demon, he's expecting one with the weapons and powers of a witch." That got the demon thinking.  
"You think we should go to his place playing harmless? I don't like that much."  
"Do you think it would be better to level the building? Pretty overkill don't you think and you might have to off Cormel, which would leave Ivy's carmilla without protection. I think it is better if Rachel goes where as witch,kicks his ass, and after that she can show him a part of her true power. This ought to impress the undead, might even be able to scare him into taking Ivy back." He said again taking his Peter Pan pose.  
"Mh doesn't sound silly anymore. The undead are pretty tough to impress, pure power rarely works. This might be a great way to manage that. But we will have to enter my kitchen for supplies."  
"Your kitchen? We don't need curses to work it the witchy way." The pixy flashed yellow and rose over teen feet in under a second.  
"Beside I'm not going to the ever-after ever again." Jenks shout down.

"Hey little man don't be silly, if you think playing harmless is going to solve this matter, I might go for it. But we will not enter there unprepared, which means kitchen it is, beside Rachel normally use her splat gun and sleep-time potions." The demon grinned getting a wired look from Jenks, but slowly the agitated pixy came down again.  
"And you could have a talk with Ivy too. I promise to bring your back, unharmed." I said, finally decided the men had talked enough. Both were eyeing me over.  
Jenks dropped a few inches in height and I extended my hand for him to land on, he did.  
"All right, give me a few minutes to talk to my family." He was already a few feet away before I screamed after him.  
"Wait for me; I want to come with you. I own your kids an apology." I said and got rolling eyes from my demon.  
"You're about to fuck our reputation six ways to Sunday. Demons promising save passages for free, giving away godparenthoods to elves, and apologiesing for their nature." He shook his head and took a grip on my arm, turning me around to face him, while Jenks waited halfway between Trent's garden trees and his house.  
"I will get your splat gun and anything else the IS, FIB and Homeland Security left behind." The demon gave me a kiss, which I fought until my knees went weak, but Al being Al jumped right the moment I gave in.

Jenks landed on my shoulder again.  
"Tink's rotten body, you reek of burnt amber and… arousal, I can't believe it he really turns you on."  
"Shut up, Jenks. This is awkward enough without you adding to it with snippy comments." I took a deep breath and got to my feet, while he rose into the air and lightened my path.  
It took me almost teen minutes to find the new home of the clan, Jenks and one of his daughters lighting the clearing. Little shrieks came from all around me and it didn't even took them a second to surround me. A bit of uneasiness floated through me.  
"Jenks?"  
"Miss Morgan?" One of them ask, not friendly but also not angry, but this gave no indication of their purpose, since pixies were able to kill cold bloody. I recognized the tactical formation they were holding, which made me gulp. It was the same they used to defend the garden against an invading fairy clan.  
"Yes, I'm sorry for everything what happens after Ceri summoned me. I … lost control over myself.. It never was my intention to hurt anyone of you and I'm thanking God that you all seemed to be okay." The pixies kept silent, which was not happening very often, it could mean everything, most likely nothing good.  
"I'm also sorry about the church and your garden and that radiation-thing, there must be a way to get rid of it so you all can return to your garden safely, if you still want to go back by then" I looked down, showing my pain and trust with it.

"What about Miss Tamwood, Rex and Bis?" One of his sons asked me, his voice was totally even, which was able to scare the hell out of me, adrenalin hit me hard.  
"Ivy is with me, at Al's place, she is safe and sound, and after we kicked Rynn in the balls she will come back this side of the lines."  
"She is in the ever-after?" One of his girls squeak, at least they weren't completely neutral anymore.  
"Yes she is, because Rynn blackmailed her into biting me. She failed to bind me and she will end up as a blood-gift if we don't change the undead's mind. For this I need your father's help." Jax his oldest son hovered a few feet before me and looked me right in the eyes.  
"You're a demon… Miss Morgan." Pain cramped my chest; I couldn't avoid that truth anymore.  
"Yes… yes I'm. But I'm still Rachel as well; I'm trying very hard to remain myself."  
"Hard to stay …" A lot pop made the pixies flee into the the darkness of the night, little shrieks of panic and silence afterwards, right before my demon exploded into existence.  
Jenks was airborne and had his sword in his hands, he and his tribe would be able to kill us both in no time; what was this idiot thinking.  
"Are you fucking nuts?" I yelled at Al and he turned almost black eyes on me, only now I received his feelings, and he was really, really furious. A treat of uneasiness ran through me and I crossed my arms before my chest, too stubborn to admit that he scared the daylights out of me.  
"What!" I demanded with impatience.

"Gone, everything is gone. No kitchen, no books, no splat gun, nothing, it's like the house has been cleaned out." I stared at him in disbelieve and Jenks landed on my shoulder for support.  
"What about the garden?" The pixy was starting to sound a bit angry himself.  
"Gone as well, not a single plant left, never seen anyone cleaning up like this." The demon growled and I felt numb since I didn't know what exactly I should think. They took everything what belonged to Jenks, Ivy or me and none of us was going to take that lightly.  
"These sons of Tink's twat, how the hell could they do this, this is against the rules. We didn't do anything wrong. What has my family to do with demon-duels?" The tiny man screamed.  
"Nothing, I assume it were the guys of Homeland Security which cleaned out your living place, since the coven would have just burned it down. Beside at least the stuff Trent told you about radiation is true. The place feels damn uncomfortable; I think they took all the things so no one would steal something. They try to contain the damage, and they're probably on the run for the ones who did this."  
I blanched and looked at the pixies, some of them were back in the formation and some were still hiding. Al looked down at me and shook his head.  
"Forget it, I don't know any demon-curse doing that, beside if it would have been your doing, Ivy would have shown syndromes of it."  
I went even whiter in the face and Al had to support me, otherwise I might have fallen on my ass.

"We all used a curse… so we don't know." Jenks gave a whistle of astonishment and was dusting bright yellow in worry.  
"Ivy did what?" He asked, while Glenn came back to my mind.  
"She took one of my curses, and she makes a pretty fine male." Al laughed even if I knew he was only doing it to taunt the pixy, my fist connected with his upper arm.  
"And why did she do that?" The pixy gave us a good glare, and all his know-how as a father showed, but Al didn't even flinched, maybe it wasn't working on five thousand plus years old demons. I, for the time being, felt uncomfortable and tried to switch the topic.  
"Stop that! What about Glenn, Jenks is he okay?"  
"We don't know, he vanished from work right after the area was sealed, but until then he seemed to be fine, even if his memory was a bit messed up" I growled lowly and bit my lip.  
"Don't tell me Homeland Security has taken him hostage."  
"Not just him. Everyone, even the IS staff vanished." He still was dusting yellow.  
"Fuck." I said with feelings, and I wanted to kick their asses for it. My demon just shook his head, but he refrained from uttering whatever was going through his mind.  
"If we can persuade Rynn and he allows Ivy back into his carmilla, what if feds hunt for her next?" I mumble lowly, but both of them had good enough hearing to understand me anyway.

"That would be bad." Jenks said and crossed his arms in front of his chest.  
I nodded and looked up at Al, back to the pixy and onto my feet.  
"Why don't we just give her anothers idenity? I mean Trent owes you, he could fix her some new papers, and Rynn is not going to piss you off after this night."  
"Al, I don't think she will take another curse to shift into someone else." I pointed out, just getting a funny look as an answer.  
"If you make it into an added condition to the deal, she would have to."  
"We made a deal with her already; attaching an appendix to it is not fair." He grinned at me.  
"Well, you made a deal with her, leave me out of this. If you don't learn to be a bit more demon-like you're going to end up top-head in a crap-load of shit. What if the feds get a hold on Ivy and she drops all the pretty information about us, you, or Trent for the matter of it? The feds are mostly run by humans, what do you think might happen to Ceridwen and Maria?" Shock widened my eyes and I didn't know what I should think right now, even Jenks wasn't saying anything.  
"If anything you could have prevented happens to that child, Ceri can go to Newt and sue you. And don't believe the woman wouldn't do it to get her child back. You have set yourself checkmate unless you think about something quickly."  
"Ivy wouldn't betray me." I muttered a bit weak.  
"What if the feds torture her, or her little sister, do you think she could sit by and watch? They're creative, those humans, they wouldn't refrain from using her instincts against her, or even drugs." Sometimes I really, really hated that demon.

"Fine, so do you think we should take down Homeland Security first?" Al laughed while he held his stomach, it went on for several seconds until he got that I really meant what I said.  
"Have you fried your brains in the lines? Taking on that organization would be pretty stupid for a single demon, even a female."  
"Well, I'm not a single anymore." I grinned at him.  
"Forget it, they're big and it would mean a lot of deaths, since you couldn't leave one of these people alive. And if you start to level their buildings, killing humans almost at random, the coven would decide to go after you, and if they join forces with the feds it could go badly for all citizens of the ever-after. You could cause a war with that. You clearly don't want something like that, hell even I don't want it and I'm a lot more blood-thirsty than you." Jenks kept silent, while I eyeballed the demon over, he was deadly serious about leaving these people alone. I made a long sigh.  
"So, what are we going to do then?" Dishearten I sat down on the grass, it was wet but it didn't bothered me right now. Who or what the hell had put that idea into my head?  
"Easy, we steal a splat gun, go to my kitchen, make your sleep-time potions and arm ourselves with curses up to the teeth, after this we pay him a visit and teach Rynn Matthew Cormel a freaking life-lesson. The idiot should stop messing with demons, before his head decides to take a vacitation from his neck. Afterwards you're going to talk sense into your vampire and if you succeeded, you can bring her back." He seemed to be pretty optimistic for all the crap what has happened lately.

"And if she didn't." Jenks asked a bit wary of what the demon might have to say.  
The guy just shrugged on the four inch man.  
"I will make sure she will not be able to drop any information about the last three days."  
"You're not going to give her forget portions, you know what happens to the peoples using them."  
"Never said it would be forget portions." He grinned at me.  
"What else is there you could do to her what wouldn't harm my agreement with her?" He shrugged at me and kept his secret to himself, which made me angry, but this time it didn't help.  
"Don't you dare to hurt her!" Jenks warned the demon, again in his Peter Pan pose; Al eyed him over with his red eyes and shrugged again.  
"We're wasting moonlight, are we ready to make our move?" He asked, pulled me into an upright position beside him. Almost the whole pixy-clan was now hovering around us, only waiting for the order of their father. He turned to his oldest son and whispered something into his ears. I couldn't understand any of it; Al wasn't having any difficulties with it, at least according to his body language which I was familiarizing with really quick.  
Jax rose over the others and made a few low whistles with his wings; the pixies swam around us and pressed in on us from very angle possible. My pulse raged and adrenalin made my mouth dry like the sand in a desert, Al reached for a line, while my eyes found Jenks.

He was dusting in a light green, I have never seen on him before, his brood was closing in on us more and more, why wasn't I dead yet, pixies were fast enough that you never saw it coming if they really went for it. Time had slowed down, up to an extreme where I could see very beat of his wings.  
Al needed three beats of Jenks wings to have a curse ready. If the demon was that fast, how was I able to best him each time he went up against me? Why hadn't he just killed my by now, it should have been as easy as to steal a child's lollipop for him?  
From one flap to the next I got the purpose behind Jenks kids attack on us, it must have been a test, since he himself wasn't attacking, nor was he leading the assault. If he really wanted me dead he would have done it himself. I hustled myself into Al and tried to take over his curse, we wrestled for it. He swore at me through the bond, something inside of him snapped and he let me have it, let me have it all. Just not the way I intended it to be. Black magic coursed through me, burnt parts of my synapses as I tried to deny the curses effects. It ended with my ass on the grass, while I was slowly fading out.  
"Shit ..." Was the last word what reached my ears.

* * *

Ouch, that must have hurt, stupid males and their brilliant ideas -.-".  
Sorry that it took me so long for the update, but there was a certainly Halloween fic that occupied my braincells ^^. Hope to get back to an update schedule with twice a week ^^.


	26. The failed test

**A demoness awakens XXVI**  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Jenks  
**Summary:** Rachel is down on the floor and out cold, what happened to Al that he thought about cursing her? What's going to happen next. Is Al going to kill the pixy-clan? Is the pixy-clan serious about their attack? What will Jenks do after Rachel was cursed by Al?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXVI: _The failed test_  
**

**- Al -**  
She was pissing me off again, maybe it has been a part of her attraction from the very start, but this was getting ridiculous. Rachel was known both sites of the lines, for making bad deals, always trying to save everyone. Everyone but herself, she promised the vampire save passage, gave save passage to the pixy too, and to top it off she was Maria's godmother, at least by demon-law, the only thing missing was the curse. Of course for free as well.  
The silly girl didn't even know what she was getting herself into, and worst of it, she never cared an inch about it; until it was too late, by far too late. That was what got her shunned in the first place.  
This little have-to-save-the-world attitude from her's was wearing my very nerves thin. Her so called friends weren't helping matters either. There was the vampire that managed to kill me, the foul-mouthed pixy with his father-complex for the two women and the cheeky elf daring to talk like demon when he was suppose to be one's familiar. And don't we forget all his little cronies, naming Josephin as one of them.

"Not just him. Everyone even the IS staff vanished." She and the pixy were speaking about the little police officer, which had carried the living-vamp's scent with him. Must have been her boyfriend or something, it made me wonder why it hadn't been him that gave his blood to the vampire.  
It was beyond me why they were wasting our time on this needless discussion, like it would change anything.  
"Fuck." She said with feeling and a treat of anger and helplessness ran through our bond. What a waste of energy, I shook my head but didn't say anything since I knew she would get angry about the direction my thoughts were running into. The next thing she said proved she wasn't all that dumb, because she got it on her own, even without me having to spell it out first.  
"If we can persuade Rynn and he allows Ivy back into his carmilla, what if feds hunt for her next?" Most probably they would, as soon as they knew she was back in reality.  
"That would be bad." The pixy uttered, like we all needed it said aloud to believe it.  
Rachel shifted her glance through the room, which ended at her feet, not used to the abilities of a demon; she didn't get the ultimate solution for that problem. I had to help out again, which I didn't like, since I had to give it for free. Maybe I could persuade her to pay me with sex. I grinned inwardly about this thought and moved my mind back to the conversation at hand. Me being distracted wouldn't help us solving this matter.

"Why don't we just give her another identity? I mean Trent owes you, he could fix her some new papers, and Rynn is not going to piss you off after this night." The girl needed a second to parse this into her mind, but instead of saying 'thank you' she uttered a complain, what else could you expect from my itchy witch.  
"Al, I don't think she will take another curse to shift into someone else." This was a valid point; Ivy was as picky about the demon-curse thing as she was. What the hell was up with realities children to deny the practical side-effects of a shifting curse? Why do you have to beat them to pulp only to get them to use one? It made no sense at all.  
"If you make it into an added condition to the deal, she would have to." Okay it wasn't completely legal but Ivy wasn't Rachel summoner. Property never was protected from being lied to, since Newt wouldn't lift a finger, so Rachel wasn't bound to her word like with Ceridwen for instance.  
"We made a deal with her already; attaching an appendix to it is not fair." No, it wasn't; even I knew that, but sometimes a demon had to do things that were totally unfair, just to save his or her own skin. Rachel sounded a bit too much like she was the boss of me, she had no right to made deals for me. This right was only my own.  
"Well, you made a deal with her, leave me out of this." My mate made a twisted face at that and I used all my hard-won control to keep myself from grinning.

"If you don't learn to be a bit more demon-like you're going to end up top-head in a crap-load of shit." Now it was my damn time to complain, and I would use it dearly, even if we had a whole pixy-clan listening in on us, which I didn't like. But maybe Jenks would be able to talk some sense into her; they knew each other far longer than I knew Rachel. Even our bound wasn't changing that.  
He had lived with her for almost two years.  
"What if the feds get a hold on Ivy and she drops all the pretty information about us, you, or Trent for the matter of it?" Finally she looked sick and it sent a shot of enjoyment down my spin. A feeling I withhold as hard as I could. She would be pissed and this would start a verbal war we really had no time for right now. We would have some later this day, and than we could enjoy ourselves.  
"The feds are mostly run by humans, what do you think might happen to Ceridwen and Maria?" Now she got that it wasn't only her's and Trent's lifes on the line but also the freshly born Maria's. Even if she might worry about this for another reason when being the child's godmother, she was starting to feel concerned.  
My little redhead kept silent, so I had to hammer my point home.  
"If anything you could have prevented happens to that child, Ceri can go to Newt and sue you. And don't believe the woman wouldn't do it to get her child back. You have set yourself checkmate unless you think about something quickly."

This was finally able to shake her out of her stupor, but the only thing she had to say was some nonsense about the vampire's intentions. She was only alive because Newt had set rules on the demons summoned so the other side of the lines would stand a chance against us. Why our Queen had done that was beyond me, but questioning our last female wasn't a good way to survive in the ever-after, so she did as she damn well pleased and most of the time no one complained.  
Human's never had this strict a set of rules put on them to begin with, for them it was okay to promise something and do something entirely different. I have seen it happen so many times. They have invented methods to torture each other which make most of the demons I met green with envy.  
"What if the feds torture her, or her little sister, do you think she could sit by and watch? They're creative, those humans, they wouldn't refrain from using her instincts against her, or even drugs." An ugly mask of distaste ran over her face and I couldn't do anything else but grin, which of course had the foreseen effect.

"Fine, so do you think we should take down Homeland Security first?" I started laughing as soon as she finished her sentence. Hot anger came from her side of our bound. Rachel never liked when I wasn't taking her serious. This was the moment I got that this remark had indeed been her severity. Damn, she was going to kill me some day, and not like a female should off her mate, but with some nonsense action, like breaking her hand to free herself of silver. Oh yes, this little incident was going to be a sour point on my psyche until the worst of the gossip was over, which probably was never.  
"Have you fried your brains in the lines?" I almost screamed in her face until I was finally able to act rational again. Yelling would only rile her up more, and what we needed was less, not more.  
"Taking on that organization would be pretty stupid for a single demon, even a female."  
"Well, I'm not a single anymore." She grinned at my, now of all times she was using the word 'WE', just perfect. I had to talk her out of it.  
"Forget it, they're big and it would mean a lot of deaths," I knew she never have killed before and she was always bothered when she was sure there wouldn't be another way.  
"Since you couldn't leave one of these people alive," she made a face on me, almost like she didn't believe it.

"And if you start to level their buildings, killing humans almost at random, the coven would decide to go after you, and if they join forces with the feds it could go badly for all citizens of the ever-after." Like dropping one of these bombs on us they were using in Hiroshima or Nagasaki, not that you could kill us with the fallout, their was no rain in the ever-after, and we could reset our biological clocks as many times as we wanted, but the actually explosion could kill a great bunch of us.  
Or even worse they could go for biological weapons like 40 years ago, even if this little virus wasn't invented for us, it proved to be very effective against their enemies. Last time their foes had been human and it was never planed to set the micro-organism free of controlled laboratory conditions, but it happened anyway. The virus later called T4 Angel attached itself to a genetical altered tomato and killed half of humankind. Pretty ironic if you ask me, every other species needed an extern enemy to get into this much trouble. Humans did this to them self; an exquisite joke for us demons.  
Whatever they would try to do to us, it would get an adequate reply, which might cause a war in the end. Demons were known for being melodramatic and unrestrained when pissed off, I mean there was a reason why the ever-after existed in the first place.  
"You could cause a war with that. You clearly don't want something like that, hell even I don't want it and I'm a lot more blood-thirsty than you."

Rachel sighed long and annoyed, but I wasn't so sure about the reason, so I waited for her to drop some more, and there it came: "So, what are we going to do then?"  
Sadness and tiredness made her sit down on the wet grass, which maybe wasn't the best choice, but she was a demon, so even if she got ill, where were always curses to cure it.  
I eyed her over, a bit astonished, was she really asking me for an advice, or was she just pulling my leg? Well, no time like the present's to check.  
"Easy, we steal a splat gun, go to my kitchen, make your sleep-time potions and arm ourselves with curses up to the teeth, after this we pay him a visit and teach Rynn Matthew Cormel a freaking life-lesson. The idiot should stop messing with demons, before his head decides to take a vacation from his neck. Afterwards you're going to talk sense into your vampire and if you succeeded, you can bring her back." I even made the effort to sound and feel optimistic even if I was anything else but this. I saw myself dying a second time for her, which brought me to the matter of rekindling the resurrection curse, this time for both of us. We had a waxing moon, which was a good thing for cooking up this complex curse.

My mate was finally a bit settled down with her mood but it didn't last long, since her business-partner had to ask something, which could get me into major problems if answered truthful.  
"I will make sure she will not be able to drop any information about the last three days." I replied while shrugging.  
"You're not going to give her forget portions, you know what happens to the peoples using them." Of course Rachel didn't like it. What had I done to myself by letting her surviving the bonding ceremony? Nothing good, this was for sure. Well, I could always decide to kill her later, as could she.  
"Never said it would be forget portions." I added even less helpfully, good thing she didn't know me long enough to get what my grin meant this time.  
"What else is there you could do to her what wouldn't harm my agreement with her?" She would love to know and I just answered with thoughtful silent and a shrug, which made her even angrier.  
If I had to I would use my right to Ivy's soul and take it before she was sent back to the other side. This would make her shut up in every situation and even better it wouldn't violate my mate's word, since Rachel promised returning and that Ivy wouldn't be hurt. Well, taking ones soul wasn't literally hurting and safety of the vampire's soul was never part of the deal. It was up to Ivy which path I would take from thereon.

"Don't you dare to hurt her!" The firefly threatened me and I shifted my laugh into a skeptical glance up to him and shrugged again. Maybe it wasn't wise to taunt the pixy-man on his own territory, with his family behind him as backup.  
"We're wasting moonlight, are we ready to make our move?" Since I didn't know how much of a temper this small guy called his own I switched topics.  
While I uttered that my hand grasped my mate off the wet grass and made her stand next to me. The whole clan was around us and even if I seldom took anything smaller and less skilled in the arts than a demon serious, the sheer number of potential enemies could develop into a problem.  
Jenks made a wink for one of his son's, and they exchanges bits of tactical shortcuts.  
I didn't understand it all but what I got was pretty precisely the order for an assault on us. Some part of me refused to belief he would betray me. My inner eyes switched to Rachel and I sighed, this weren't my feelings, I didn't trust the little guy and his children even and inch, but she did. This could go south even faster when it already was. It cost me quite a bit of will-power to get rid of these feelings, but I wouldn't have time for friendship, trust and scruple once the shit hit the fan. The only thing counting in a fight was surviving, and looking good while doing so.  
Rachel should stop putting her trust on people who haven't earned it yet.  
My muscles tensed and I readied my mind and body for the upcoming fight. Even if I was a demon, seriously, fifty against one was unfair, wasn't it?

His son was dusting white and he rose over all the others than he made three short whistles with his wings and all his siblings attacked at once. Adrenalin surged through me and the flow of time retarded to a fraction of its normal pace. All motions became crystal-clear and slow motion, I could have spent hours counting the flaps of dragonfly-wings.  
But I knew it was a hormone-created illusion, enabling males to act in a blink of an eye. My awareness touched the line since I couldn't fight them off without magic, where were too many of them.  
Six beats of the white dusting one's wings and I had the curse to turn the air around us into an electrostatic field ready. I was about to let it lose on them right the moment Rachel shoved herself into me, trying to steal the curse right out of my mind.  
I didn't know demons were able to do that, and she couldn't have known either, this made me almost sure she was gambling on pure luck. One of the pixy-swords cut up my arm, making me bleed.  
Insults in the old demon language left my mouth; words for which my mother would have grounded me for months to come. She wanted my curse so badly, Rachel risked both our lifes with that idiocity of hers and I just had enough. For one moment I was totally myself again, and furious beyond recover, she could have it. Screw us all back to the splitting of the worlds, I let her have it; I threw the curse right into her, not caring what it might damage.

The next four beats of wings I used to went misty and turn myself into my black big gargoyle form, which I used to scare the crap out of Treble. Good thing I added the skin of stone.  
"Try to cut that your little bitches." I hissed at them and opened my wings, which made them fan out with the effort of evading the wings of animated stone and wind.  
"Rachel..." An agonizing cry was heard over all their little amusing shrieks, I made out the sound of Jenks voice and was over the red haired demoness in a blink of an eye, facing down the little man with his garden sword.  
He stood on her cheek dusting an angry red that was almost black.  
"What the hell did you do to Rachel?" He yelled at me while I debated if I should eat him before or after I ripped his wings off and tortured him for a while.  
I flipped my wings a few times to get his children out of my hair, even if they couldn't hurt me with their swords as long as my skin was made out of stone; it was bugging me nevertheless. They assaulted my senses with their quick and high communication but I ignored it. As soon as they were far enough away from me, I raised a circle around the three of us and crawled toward him right over my mate.

Jenks attacked me with his sword, right going for my eye, which I closed. His little sword hit stone and it made a little plinging noise from metal on granite. I flashed big black blocky teeth at him, sucked in the moisture from the dew on the grass and spite it right into his middle to fling him right into my circle. He met the black sheet of ever after and went down, taking a few seconds to recollect himself. Good, I hadn't knocked him out; I wanted my fun with the little guy before I would kill him.  
The pixy used his sword to rise to his full height again, one of his wings was bent and he winced as he tried to fly again. His eyes found mine while I sat down on Rachel's chest, almost as if I claimed her as mine. Well, she was mine by demon-right; that thought made me look at her face, which was almost white and twisted in pain. It made me rethink the last minute and I went dead still at my own memory. Whatever complain the pixy uttered, it was lost to me.  
"Oh, lutum!" Rachel was not going to be amused once she wakes up. She had not a single pixy-sword inflicted wound on her, and I had attacked her, without a second thought. Part of me was regretting it even now, the other part was still mad at her for the stunt she had pulled on me.  
Jenks threw a tiny rock at me, you would never believe how strong these little creatures could be, it was almost like messing with an anthill. I looked up at him.  
"What the hell were you thinking you fucking Asinus!" A low growl left my lips while I mixed English with Latin, which always was a bad sign for the composure of a demon. The only thing worse would be trying serious insultings on a non-demon in Chol.

He took his typical pose and was about to yell at me. Something I wasn't going to put up with.  
"I was testing, if you're trustworthy, well you aren't." Heat and hatred came without me willing to, I snarled at him.  
"I must have turned soft, you're still alive, weeny little bug. What makes you little idiots ween it would be a good idea to attack us! Testing our … my trust in you? Whatever!" My tail twitched like a big cat one's when she was pissed enough.  
"You could have caused an even bigger catastrophe than this." The voice of mine had dropped to threatening demon and if I didn't find my composure soon the little warrior would meet his maker soon. My gaze shifted back to my mate and I decided it was time to break my curse and heal up the damage. The claw of my gargoyle form came to rest on Rachel's thorax and I started to apply magic I haven't used for ages.

* * *

This is the answer to why the situation escalated once more. It's Al's point of view this time, since Rachel is out cold right now ^^. I found the idea of Jenks testing Rachel's trust in him and his family interesting, she passed, Al failed.


	27. Mens talk

**A demoness awakens XXVII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Jenks  
**Summary:** Al has cursed Rachel and trapped, himself with Jenks in a circle. The pixy swore to kick the demons ass. Whatever happens next the two of them are going to have a talk with each other.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXVII: _Mens talk_  
**

**- Al -**  
"She wanted me to go with you, into the ever-after, demon. Do you think I would leave my family without some trust between us?" The little man said, while his wings stilled.  
"Well, how would you have reacted if someone would have attacked you and your wife with a superior number of fifty against two?" I asked still with my dark voice. The curse which trapped my mate in the world of unpleasment dreams was slowly dimishing.  
His dust turned red.  
"You asshole, how dare you using Matalina's name in this." The little warrior was stalking over to me. Pain and hatred flowed through him, and majorly lose.  
A loss I remembered experiencing myself a long time in the past too. Even after more than five thousand years his sorrow reached that part of my soul which never would stop grieving and I lost my will to fight against him.  
"She died." My voice held no humor, no joy and no anger anymore, it wasn't a question; it was a statement. The man stopped before he could climb up onto Rachel's breast to launch the next assault.  
"Yes she did…" blond hair flying from agitated angry wings.  
"Losing one's love and living on is the hardest thing one can do isn't it?" The little man was confused and starting to get even angrier, this time on a deeper level; soul-deep I may add. Maybe he thought I was mocking his feelings.  
"What do you know about love, about loss? You're a freaking demon!" He wailed at my face, without any intention I appeared to have broken something inside of the little man.

My eyes started glowing red with my own anger.  
"Well, Newt killed my mother, right in front of me and after this she killed my first mate as she tried to help her…" The anger balanced with my mourning and the glow vanished, my eyes shifted from his figure down onto Rachel.  
"You're kidding, aren't you?" Jenks asked and I sensed his anger fading and the growing of confusion.  
"No." That one word sounded bitter and pierced my heart as if her death was still fresh on my mind. He kept silent for a few heartbeats, slowly lowering his sword, as if he saw into my heart and knew it wasn't for show.  
"Rachel is my second mate, and before I suffer a loss like that again, I would rather kill everything including…" I wouldn't say it, wouldn't share it with him, wouldn't even dare to think it, so I came up with another more demon-like line.  
"You, your family, this world and any demon daring to go for her life," which equaled death if the particular demon was named Newt, but Jenks didn't know that.  
My eyes found the little man again and he eyeballed me over, shifted his glance to Rachel and raised his sword up again, but this time he felt unclarity about it.

"And why is she lying in the grass, and looking like she suffers." I cringed at his words and liked my lips with nervousness.  
"She tried to demount my curse, claiming it as her own. I took your attack seriously, she didn't or she didn't care if you killed her. I'm only a male and I was doing my best to protect her and she had no better thing to do than backstabbing me a good one." My anger at Rachel was fuming alive once more.  
"I gave the curse to her." I looked at her face and slowly the pain retrieved, which made my breathing easier.  
"You spelled her!" The little man was furious again, but I only lifted my eyes to him, warning him silently.  
"Yes I did, things like this happen from time to time, especially with a mate as difficult as Rachel. Nature hasn't given demons the possibility to bind each others souls for nothing. She will be awake and well in a few minutes." It was an open question if I was going to be okay afterwards as well.  
"What are you doing?" The pixy asked wary.  
"I'm breaking my curse. Can I chance back to myself or are you going to stick your little sword inside my skin as soon as I reform?" Jenks wasn't the only one worried here.  
His wings stilled again and he seemed to be thinking about it a long time before he sheathed his blade.  
"Go on demon-spawn I can down you without it." For the sake of peace I withdraw from answering this with on of my own threats. It would be unwise and useless.

I invoked a shifting curse, and was back in my usually appearance, which was eyed over by the pixy. He reeled back as the scent of freshly burnt amber rose from me. My fingers found Rachel's neck and I lifted her with caution.  
"I will jump her home before healing the damage. Are you coming with me?" We had agreed on something, at least in my book, but we never made a contract so my question was valid.  
"Her home …" the little man said while he sounded lost in thoughts. He straightened his back and walked the last few feet to my shoes, gazing up at me with almost wild eyes, determined rang through his soul.  
"Yes I'm coming with you. We have got a talk waiting, you know? I'm so going to kick your ass Al." An eyebrow rose at his comment but I just shrug on him.  
"Sit on my shoe; you have to be within my aura to travel the lines safely." To my astonishment the young man did as he was told. With a last sweep over his relatives I matched three auras to the nearest ley line and we jumped

We misted back into existence right in my hall. The hall was made out of black granite and white walls with living wallpapers on it; its shifting scripts informed everyone who wasn't invited what would happen to them if they don't leave immediately. I moved my feet with caution since I had a pixy riding it. Normally I wouldn't have to go through the corridor, but Jenks was new to my rooms, my defenses didn't know his aura and other than Ivy he wasn't bound to me by demon-law.  
"Tink's titties, this was uncomfortable, your aura is really black you know that Al?" He asked and I was aware of the strain it took him not to flinch away from me.  
"And you stink… Tink's a Disney whore, the whole place reeks." He complained while I proceeded through my hall to the second jumping sigil, a quick move of my hand, a flash of line and his aura was included into my guest profiles. Next time I could jump directly to the inner quarters. I reached the seal.  
"Hey demon where is the door, don't tell me all you have got is…" the line took us and we came through to my kitchen: "… this little…" I felt his wonder as he became aware of the room, which made me grin.  
"Fucking Tink's red thong, is this your kitchen? It's freaking huge." Excitement ran through him and I felt him trying to get into the air. He panted in pain as his bent wing stopped him from satisfying his desires. Afterwards he started swearing at me very colorful. No wonder Rachel had so many bad words in her thesaurus. His anger made me smirk even more.  
Slowly I put my mate down onto the bench and raised my foot with the pixy on it, so he could descent from it. It didn't surprise me that he was moving really fast, trying to avoid the touch of my aura. I shrugged again.

"You know she is a demon, and her aura is going to feel the same way given enough time." I put three big spelling pots onto the stove and walked over to my curse cupboard to grab some smelling salt, one which not only woke cursed people but would also healed a lines burning.  
My eyes found the helpless pixy on the bench, sitting on Rachel's stomach and watching me with distrust. I couldn't call foul on this one, I had been the idiot who cursed his own mate, but it really wasn't his cupcake to teach me my lesson. This was up to Rachel.  
My fingers slipped over the entrails of the wooden container and I debated with myself of how much use a pixy with a bent wing could be for the upcoming battle, not much.  
"Jenks, how long is this wing going to take healing?" I asked, he could be useful in my kitchen as well, since these little bugs were excellent when it came to all sorts of herbs. Good thing I had regained my conservatory just recently. It would be nice having someone pick up all the ingredients for the spelling. He looked at me, angry and said: "At least two days till full use, thanks to you."  
He sounded pretty angry and I took another curse out of the closet and shut it.  
"That would be to long for our plans; I will have to heal that up. There is only one question left, do you want me to use my line-skills, or do you prefer to use a curse?"  
The pixy was dusting some yellow, which I had no idea what it might mean. He thought about it, while I got the smelling salt and the curse over to them.

"What's wrong with you? You never were that nice to anyone, why starting now?" The little guy asked me, which made me shrug again.  
"Influences of mating run both ways. Rachel is going to ruin my reputation and my business with her softness." I remarked only a slightest bit angry.  
"Your business… you will have to quit that one if you want to be an item with her. You know that don't you?" Jenks grinned up at me and his joy about it made me angry. I switched the topic back to our problem, but the little man was right about it, at least in the long run.  
"What will it be, line-healing our shifting?" I asked again and came to sit in front of him, watching. The pixy was clearly worried about my offer.  
"What do you want for it, a mark? I'm not going to carry around a demon-mark." The thought made me smirk, he would be the first pixy owing a demon, but I didn't need Rachel's complaining or disgust to know she would hate that. It almost made it worth a try, but without Jenks agreement on it I couldn't give him one. Screw the thought, I would find another way to make her angry at me. Ever heard humans talking about make-up sex, well demons were experts on that topic.  
"I will not give you a mark; we are allies in some way." His jaw gapped open and he needed almost a second to collect himself. I winked at the thin air between us.  
"Are we not trying to keep Rachel alive? Are we not trying to restore the vampires place in reality? Aren't we working together on this pixy?" He took his typical pose and was clearly not amused.  
"Healing it is, and I want her awake first." I eyed over Rachel and draw back a strand of hair, touching her skin while doing so. Longing blossomed inside of my stomach but I kept it under control. There was no time for it now.

"I would prefer to do it while she is still sleeping."  
"Why, so she can't stop you?"  
"Oh do hush, this is stupid, why should I bring you to my kitchen to injure you if I had plenty of time on your side of the lines?" I asked a bit bemused: "It wouldn't make any sense this way, would it? Beside I don't know how she is going to react, but I swear you will want to be able to fly." He took his pose and made an angry gesture with his hand.  
"Try anything funny and I will kill you." It cost me some force of will again to refrain from laughing, but I had been killed by a living vampire yesterday, this was bad enough an embarrassment that it made me cautions with her pixy-friend.

**- Jenks -**  
I never thought I would be staring at a demon's kitchen. It was pretty impressive, almost as high as my whole church. The fire pit which was surrounded with benches looked like out of some sci-fi flick. Rachel was still out cold and I was really worried about her.  
My eyes tracked the demon, messing with his junk in a long wooden closet. What was he going to threw at me; I worried, slowly pacing in circles. Why did I go with them, with him?  
Again my gaze shifted to Rachel, she was like a daughter to me, even turned demon and obviously nuts haven't changed that. She was still my Rachel, the witch who would do everything to save her friends.  
"Jenks, how long is this wing going to take healing?" The demons voice rose from the other side of the kitchen, it wasn't the first time he called me by my name but it was seldom he used it more than ones. My gaze shifted to my bent wing and I examine its ability to move and support my weight. This was no good, I would be able to fly short distances only, and if we were really going up against an undead I wanted to be at my full capacity.  
"At least two days till full use, thanks to you." A truthful answer, Tink's dildo I sounded pissed, good, because I was. Lucky me, he hadn't done more damage to my wing, or I might have made a die because of it. A pixy without wings was hardly able to survive.  
Mister-green-fork-coat moved back to us, which just amplified my desire to move in three dimensions again. Grounded pixies were bad at fighting, but I wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing me afraid.

"That would be to long for our plans." He almost sounded like the whole pile of fairy crap was my fault, and alone the way he said it made me angry. If he was going to blame this on me Rachel was gonna carry his nuts as a necklace.  
"I will have to heal that up. There is only one question left, do you want me to use my line-skills, or do you prefer to use a curse?"  
The demon suggested to heal me up, worry exploded inside of my innards, the warning of Ceri and Rachel came back to me.  
'Never trust a demon to give anything for free, they are greedy bastards.'  
Big Al hadn't said anything about payment, so there must be a catch in this he didn't want to speak about. But he was making his naive fallacy without me.  
"What's wrong with you? You never were that nice to anyone, why starting now?" It confused me and I could wait with the accessions until he replied to my question.  
"Influences of mating run both ways. Rachel is going to ruin my reputation and my business with her softness." I took in his answer and had to smirk while I imagined the demon in a dress of pink silk with a bow in his long hair, add a bit of make-up and you could keep me laughing for weeks. Another thought replaced the first.  
"Your business… " this was trading familiars, or better phrased selling slaves. Rachel hated his business even before she went to the ever-after once a week. Disgust colored my voice.  
"You will have to quit that one if you want to be an item with her. You know that, don't you?" Al made a face at my sentence but at least he wasn't denying that she might demand that, he didn't even refuse to ditch that job of his. How serious was the demon taking this mating-thing?

I grinned at him, and before I had time to remember much about his expression of lose before he jumped us; the demon asked another question.  
"What will it be, line-healing our shifting?" of course he change the subject while doing so. What was the lesser evil of the choices he offered?  
"What do you want for it, a mark? I'm not going to carry around a demon-mark." He grinned at me, which just confirmed he wanted an IOU from me.  
"I will not give you a mark; we are allies in some way." My jaw dropped and to be true, having the demon speaking about an alliance between us made me even more wary. Allying oneself with a demon couldn't be a bright idea. My eyes shifted to Rachel. Wasn't I already in a league with some kind of demon?  
'Wake up, Jenks you must be deathly drunken on honey to get dreams like that.'  
"Are we not trying to keep Rachel alive? Are we not trying to restore the vampires place in reality? Aren't we working together on this pixy?" This wasn't funny anymore, was that pal raving nuts, or just bullshiting me? Forming a league with Algaliarept the slave-trader, yes sure, my ass. I decided to test his resolve and answered him with the thing that might require less trust from my side.

"Healing it is, and I want her awake first." My glance moved to Rachel's face, as did his. He had cursed her a few minutes back in anger, but I could sense nothing but gentleness in his touch. Maybe I was imagining things, but why not, Rachel has changed so many people already why not Al as well?  
The girl was a force of nature, giving a living vamp stability, paying rent to a pixy and saving me from following Matalina into the next world. She was a weres alpha, chose to trust fairies, trolls, gargoyles, a returned from the dead ghost, murderous elves and even humans, each brand of creature seemed to be drawn by her charms. Why not adding a demon's friendship or even love to it? She kicks ass our side of the lines, maybe she could do some good stuff this side as well.

"I would prefer to do it while she is still sleeping." That was as clear as a spring's burn, and I didn't trust the demon any farer than I could throw him, which according to the difference in height and weight what separated us, I couldn't do at all.  
"Why, so she can't stop you?" He made a face.  
"Oh do hush, this is stupid, why should I bring you to my kitchen to injure you if I had plenty of time on your side of the lines? It wouldn't make any sense this way, would it? Beside I don't know how she is going to react, but I swear you will want to be able to fly."  
Even if I hated to admit that but he had a valid point here, he could have killed me more when once and as a warrior I knew it. But trust with the dark ones; especially this one wasn't easy to accomplish. My gaze shifted back to Rachel's face and I remembered the way she looked yesterday, with all that anger and strange dark power surrounding her, it sent a shiver down my spin, and it wasn't a good one. Al had a second valid point there; I wanted to be able to fly if I had to.  
I made an unsatisfied wink with my hand to signal he should go for it.  
"Try anything funny and I will kill you" The demon kept his face blank, like I wouldn't know that he didn't take me serious. He was going to regret that.  
A black sheet of ever-after cascaded over him and the air pressure shifted, and where once had been a demon, was empty air.


	28. The black pixy

**A demoness awakens XXVIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Jenks  
**Summary:** Al has vanished in a cloud of ever-after, but is he really gone? What if not? And what is the demon going to do about Rachel and Jenks. This one is going to be one hell of fun, I love the little bug.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXVIII: _The black pixy_  
**

**- Jenks-**  
Maybe someone had summoned the demon, well good luck with that, Al was going to be pissed. Rachel was still nonsentient lying under me, my wing was still bent, and as long as he was gone I could mess with his kitchen.  
Perhaps I should start a search for Ivy, but since I couldn't fly more than a few feet and the room was doorless, the hope to find her wasn't all that big.  
A chatter of wings made me look up; the rest of the black ever-after cloud vanished and revealed a four inch man with dragonfly wings. His skin was almost gray, his wings a net of black veins on translucent sheds. The demon was dusting black, maybe due to his black aura and his eyes were still red with these horizontal slits.  
My hand found the hilt of my sword; of course you could trust a demon to change into something that would bother you, in my case that pixy from hell.  
The demon-pixy was wearing black assassin gear, a garden sword which looked like a black copy of mine, he made a back somersault middle air and it looked like he had never done anything else but flying his whole life. Slowly he descended onto Rachel's cheek, he was very careful with his wings and his weight, so he wouldn't hurt her, at least it looked like that.

I stepped back to improve my position for the possible fight to come, it scared the crap out of me that Al could change into a pixy, but seriously if Ceri was able to shrink Rachel and Pierce to pixy-size, why shouldn't the demon be able to do that as well.  
"Is this your way of a bad joke?" I asked, still not drawing the blade; if he had the wings, the dusting and balance of my kin, he might as well have the speed; if I wouldn't play this careful I could be death really fast. Being unable to fly was never good with another pixy.  
"Ease up, firefly. Like I said before if I wanted you gone, I could have killed you at least five times. I didn't, so ease up." The demon-pixy used his wings for support while he walked slowly into my direction. If the color, his dust and the stench wouldn't out him as a demon, fuck you could have mistaken him for a pixy. That was bad.  
He came to a stand right in front of me and I eyed him over, somehow he was even spookier small than his normal size. I wasn't sure how to handle this situation. How often had he threatened Rachel? Hurt her? Screwed her life behind recognition, maybe I should punch him a good one while I still had the change.  
He laughed loud and full of joy.  
"So you want to hurt me? Interesting, is this what it will take for you accepting Rachel's choice of a mate?" Al was mocking me with an imitation of my stance.

My fingers twine around the sword hilt until my knuckles went white with the effort not to attack.  
"Turn around Jenks, let me heal your wing first, after this we will fly down to my conservatory, getting all the stuff for the portions and the curses, and while we're doing this you can lecture me about whatever you wish to. After this we can exchange a few punches if it makes you happy." He laughed at me again, which made me even angrier, he was bossing me around, and he thought I needed his fucking permission to hit him?  
My ass, there you go and with all the speed I could muster I made a try for his face. Al clearly didn't saw that one coming and staggered back from my punch, but I wasn't done. I tried again only to become aware of the foot in my gut, which sent me flying back a few inches. I went down on one knee and Al stood before me grinning down on my, dusting a bit of gold onto Rachel's torso, his eyes were glowing.  
"Oh I haven't had a good brawl in millennia, come on, get on your feet." His arm rose to his mouth and he wiped away blood which was surprisingly red.  
Was he losing his mind? Starting a fight with a pixy was never for fun, but he seemed to be enjoying himself. Didn't he know I could kill him in two seconds flat? My grip shifted back to the sword, which got me a 'tzs' from him.

"You're angry about my bond with Rachel, pissed about me taking her into my bed, and out of your lives, aren't you, pixy-man. If you're willing to fight me only with your fists I will accept the challenge, and meet you on those terms. If you draw that blade all bets are off. I'm still a demon, don't forget that." He drawled in his high English accent.  
I kicked at his feet and without having a lifetime being winged in his subconsciousness, he went down onto Rachel's stomach, with me on top of him. I hit his face again and he laughed while he grasped my hair and jerked me off balance. Both of us rolling over Rachel's body toward her feet, I screamed as the sheer momentum of our fight bent another wing of mine.  
With all desperation I tried to get the demon-pixy off of me. Al on the other hand was dusting a bright gold of excitement one of his wings was ripped but he didn't seem to care.  
Why should he, he was a freaking demon and his survival didn't depend on his wings intact. My hand was going for my blade again; a hand pressed mine against the hilt.  
"Stop being a pussy Jenks. As long as no one of us dies my magic can heal everything." His fist gripped my gardening jacket, hurling me onto my feet only to give me a swing of his own; it caused me to scream with pain and frustration.  
Pain exploded in the right side of my face, making me spite out one of my teeth, I tried to kick him but this time he evaded the attack.

His eyes were glowing red and he looked like a death drunken pixy on honey, I was astonished he was able to remain standing.  
"Fight me… punish me for taking her away from you… satisfy your darker instincts, make me pay little pixy daddy to a demoness… prove you're what you claimed to be." Al's sing sang was starting to faze me a bit. What was this nonsense about demons he was babbling there?  
The black pixy was coming at me again, I could have evaded the bunch but instead I ran right into him, hauling him of balance and throwing him over my hip, like I have seen Rachel doing it with Ivy. Al went over Rachel's leg and fell the 20 inches down to the floor. I heard a dissatisfying growl since his wings weren't supporting him like they should have.  
"Come down here, we aren't done yet, unless you have turned into a little buggy coward." I had had enough and with a battle-cry I used the leg of the bench to get down to the floor, while Al had to fight to gain his footings back.  
One of the wings was broken and it must have hurted like hell, but instead of stopping him it seemed to make him even hotter for more. I barely had time to set foot onto the floor before the insane demon was on my back, smashing my head into the wood of the bench.  
Stars exploded in my vision and I lost my stand, Al retreated and gave me the time to get up again. We both must have been looking like fairy crap on a compost heap.  
His alien goat-slitted eyes leveled on me.

"You aren't done yet, there is still so much anger inside of you. Damn it. Fight!" He attacked again, I dodged the swing of his leg out of pure luck and there was my moment, the moment I had been waiting for.  
My hand dashed forward, collecting with his family jewels, it didn't make a nice sound as the demon was flunked back a few inch and landed on his back, snapping a second wing. He rolled on the floor holding his middle, swearing in some off sounding language.  
I got back up to my feet and draw my blade, it was time to end this and here was my chance. Rachel would be free of that demon, and could return to her life.  
We starred at each other, his red eyes coated with pain, why wasn't he changing, why wasn't he using magic?  
Lines of worry ran over his face, settling down as a smirk.  
"Matalina…" He whispered and stopped my attack dead on, I wobbled back a few steps and looked at him with an anger I would never be able to discharge.  
The demon-pixy rolled up into a sitting position and there still was enough pain from my last attack to satisfy something inside of me.  
"You will never forget her, as much as I will never be able to forget Amalis." He said and I wasn't able to get his sudden change of mood, it made me cautions. I had drawn my blade to murder him in cold blood and he said all bets were off then. But I was still alive, and Al sat on the floor almost peacefully, it was just a question of time until that would change.  
"Amalis?" I asked trying to distract him so I would be able to finish him off.  
"My first mate, once a demon bonds his or her soul to another there is nothing to separate them, not even death. If you would satisfy you bloodlust and kill me right now, you would leave behind a Rachel without her chosen one. That would make her incomplete and vulnerable; it would hurt her worse than losing that Kisten, since it wouldn't only break her heart but also her soul apart." He said and looked at me, his mouth was seeping blood.

"It was a mistake to bed with you, demon-spawn and what do you mean with breaking her soul apart." I asked and all the possible answers which swam through my mind, got me worried, since most of them were unpleasment.  
"Bond ones possesses a part of the others soul, you kill me, make me gone for good and I will take that part she gifted me with to the next world, my part inside of her would slowly dimish to nothing. This is called a broken soul…" The demon sounded a bit strange with his fare away voice, it didn't sound healthy.  
"Break the bond!" I demanded but he only smiled, maybe a bit sad and shook his head.  
"Once enabled, never disabled, bond for the rest of destiny's wheel's turning; at least this is how it's suppose to be. Chance is you kill me, you kill her too. You have witnessed me being murdered by Ivy, tell me you want her like that again Jenks from the pixies." Somehow I had the feeling the guy wasn't kidding. No, Al was death serious and it scared me, big-time. The options the demon left me with were both worse than fairy crap on toast. I wanted him gone but I have seen what Kisten's death did to Rachel, and I couldn't do it to her, demon or not I just couldn't.  
Slowly I sheathed my sword again. Al smiled at me, and it looked totally different when each other time I had seen him smile at one of us. His hand reached for me, almost asking me to help him to his feet. Something about his behavior was odd, I didn't trust it.  
"I don't understand all this, why did you change into a pixy, why did you challenge me, why did you risk defeat?" He smiled again and spate some of his blood onto the floor.

"There are old customs to follow. I took her first heat without any approval from her mother or her father and without paying any dower either. She had no one to guide her through it, and so she ended up with me as her mate. You're the closest thing she has left to a father, if you don't count her biological dad. You were hopping madly about the bond. The only thing I could do was giving you the satisfaction of beating me up on equally terms. " I starred at the demon, open mouthed not believing, not able to.  
"What are you talking about mad man?"  
"Your anger is mostly gone, and it's custom to give the father of a demoness a compensation for losing his daughter's first heat to a man she hasn't been brought by."  
I stared at him.  
"Oh fucking Tink and her bells you demons are sick! Really! Slave trading, prostitution, incest what's next, necrophilia?" I was feeling sick, and a shiver went over me, when I imagined Rachel had to live with them from now on. This was just so wrong.  
"Sick? You forget the killing, lovely Jenks. You can exchange a daughter's first heat against favors, but if the demoness doesn't like the demon who tries to take her, she kills him. If you think there is a way to take a female demon against her will, forget it. You would be death faster than jumping the lines without an aura." My head was starting to spin and I had to sit down, so I sat on the floor, almost in front of the demon.

"You mean… she wanted you?" My eyes shifted to the still sleeping Rachel.  
"Yes, apartly she did, otherwise I wouldn't be sitting here." He smiled up at her while his voice sounded casual like he was ordering coffee.  
"So you love her?" This was really, really weird, all this stuff about his kind's costumes and Rachel's dark desires; this was surely going to piss off Ivy. And I wonder how Rachel was going to drop that bomb on her family. He looked up to me with his goat eyes and smiled while he shook his head.  
"Demon marriages aren't about love, they are about power. She hates me and I'm almost constantly angry about her behavior, but nevertheless we are attracted to each other up to an extreme we would kill for each other… or getting ourselves killed to protect the other one. The Gods weren't kindly when they created us." His eyes went to the ceiling and he smiled a bit lost.  
"This sounds awful." It cost me a bit of will not to feel sorry for him; he was a freaking fuckball, and all demons were pervert and evil. He laughed silently and eyed me over, which gave me the creeps.  
"Our lives might be hard; our society without shelter for ones which are not kin, our ways of traveling time pointless and our costumes of mating strange, pervert or even evil, but all this makes us what we are." Just out of curiosity I asked: "And that might be?"  
"Strong." A simple answer what raised a bubble of hysteric laugher from me, sure strong was a way to descript this little psycho association of them.

"Strong, where the hell are you strong? You're fucking bullies, nothing more, nothing less." Now it was his time to laugh.  
"We are strong in body, hard to kill; we are strong in magic, able to cheat even the God of death. There has never been a kind able to survive its own extinction for over five thousand years. Even trapped inside the ever-after we are a force of nature recognized and feared by all others born from creation, no matter which side they resided. Show me another kind with a power like ours?" He got to his feet, almost falling again. His face twisted in pain, he stood before me, reaching down to help me stand this time.  
Sadly he wasn't totally wrong with his arguments, since each survival prove that we were strong, same went for pixies. The strong survive and bred the weak and stupid die.  
I eyed his hand over and found his eyes.  
"And finally Jenks none of us chose to be born the way we're. Take the cards the Gods are dealing you, and play them right."  
"But you have a choice with your doings; they make the difference between good and evil." I was pretty sure my opinion would get me nowhere.  
"Only if destiny doesn't come ringing." He moved his hand as a sign to rise and his mood seemed to brighten.  
"Thanks for you approval of our bond, and it's time to kick some undead's ass."  
I had my hand half-extended the moment he spoke about approval, I never said that, would never say that. I withdraw my hand, lowered it to the floor, but half-way between his hand and the surface Al grasp it and hurled me upright. His arms encuffled me and while he took a deep long sniff I tried to stop breathing, since that stink of burnt amber was making me feel sick.

A shudder ran through me, deep to the bone level, which made me gasp, every cell seem to come alive and then he went misty, reforming as the black pixy. His broken wings totally healed up, while I found myself on the floor, still not able to focus correctly.  
The demon-pixy went to one of the class-containers and raised it, using his wings to bring it up to Rachel's head. Worry blossomed inside of me and I tried to get up, still not able to do it I heard a soft moan from the ex-witch. What the hell was he doing now?  
Finally able to master rising onto my feet, I became aware of the missing hurts from our fight; the demon had done as he said. He had healed me up. My wings became an agitated blur and I was able to fly again, no bent wing anymore. Within seconds I was at Rachel's side, she looked all the way better, but her focus was on Al, and she screamed as she became aware of the demon.

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Told you, Jenks is totally awesome.  
Sorry it took me so long to get the new chapter online, I had my hands full of work and inspiration was few and far between.


	29. The sea of blood

**A demoness awakens XXIX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust _

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Rachel's Dad / Rachel's Mother / Ivy / Jenks / Trent / Ceri / Quen  
**Summary:** Rachel has been cursed and finds herself in a sea of blood, surrounded by ruins, and suddenly her worst fears came alife, where the hell is she and what the fuck is happening.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXIX:_ The sea of blood_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
I still felt the burning pain inside my veins, which was caused by Al's curse. That fucking demon dared to curse me.  
The sting of the spell got worse and I didn't know how to cope with it anymore, lying on the floor was becoming uncomfortable as well. With all my will I tried to get up from the cold surface, but it didn't work; something trapped me inside my own thoughts and rendered me powerless.  
The smell of blood rose and panic came out of nowhere. Adrenalin coursed through me and with renewed effort I was able to open my eyes, it would have been better to leave them closed.  
My cheek rested in some liquid I wasn't able to feel on my skin. My whole body was numb, but the smell and sight of it was absolutely enough to identify it. Blood!  
Why was I lying face down in blood? With a girlish screak I sat upright and became aware of the sticky feeling from the warm liquid. Part of me enjoyed it, while the other was totally mortified. My red curls laid almost flat with the weight of blood on them. I would never be able to look at my red hair with the same calm feeling again. Disgusted with myself and the whole situation I raised my hand to get my mane out of the way.  
Another thing I shouldn't have done. I was sitting in front of my church, destroyed beyond repair, the asphalt was coated with blood, and it wasn't just a little puddle; no, it was almost like a sea. It reached as wide as the eyes were able to see.  
My hand went to the police-car for support and I managed to get my ass out of the slowly cooling liquid.  
"What the hell has happened here?" I asked, but surprisingly there was no answer.

Bewildered I turned around, hoping to see one of my neighbors, to ask them about the recent events. But everything my eyes were able to see, was a ruined wasteland.  
Somehow it reminded me of the ever-after with all that red. Surrounded by ruins, nothing moved, and it was dead silent. No inderlanders, no dogs, no birds, and not the slightest bit of traffic noises. What the hell had happened here? Have I just slept through the end of the world? Wouldn't that be typical Rachel?  
A cold chill ran down my spin as I remembered parts of my fight against Newt. Was my church really leveled to the ground, by my own magic? Or had it been the crazy bitch?  
My eyes searched for something, anything left alive, but there wasn't anything.  
"Ivy? Jenks?" I asked, desperately hoping they where still alive.  
No one answered me, but the wind became even more chilling and the scent of burnt amber rose. Adrenalin surged through me and with a wild spin I turned around to face the demon that must have been standing right behind me. But there was no one, only empty air.  
This was freaking me out; the stench of burnt amber only grew in potency.  
"Al?" My voice sounded weak as I spook my worst enemy's name.  
"If this is a game of your creation, you will regret it!" I hissed at no one in particular, which made me feel crazy. A low chime filled the air and the blue sky was slowly turning red.

"Stop doing that!" Fear made me scream at my surroundings, why was the fucking sky turning red. Like this world was swallowed by the ever-after. I dispossessed of the conclusion this thought was invoking.  
"Al, stop it…!" I almost begged while I noticed that my shoes were becoming wet. It startled me and I had to look down; mistake number three. A loud scream echoed back from the leveled buildings and I found myself on the roof of the car, trying to peel my blood soaked boots off. The red sea slowly began to eat everything around me; the sky now had a color identical to the ever-after's. Pure terror torn a new howl from my throat.  
"Al this isn't funny." My pulse ran amok, while I was unable to move, trapped on the car's roof. Maybe I should make a circle to escape the blood's touch. My mind reached for a line, and … there was nothing. No line, no power, not even a slightest bit of energy in the air. My eyes shifted over my body and I found silver bracelets on my wrists.  
They weren't where a few seconds ago. What the hell was happening here!  
"AL!" All that fear, switched to anger and I yelled his name, of course where was no answer. A few seconds of utter silent enclosed me, even the wind stopped blowing.  
The fine hair on my neck rose and then a new sound soared behind me. I turned around and finally there was a person to talk to.

It took me almost a second, in which I was withstanding the pull of jumping down and wading over, to realize it was my father. No, not Tabaka the music-star who was my biological father, it was my human dad; the only problem was, he died in a hospital when I was 13 years old.  
I had seen him die, witnessed his last breath. How could he be here right now? There was no way for the dead to come back … other than a demon-curse.  
"Demon ..." he whispered almost inaudible, but it sent a new chill down my spin.  
"Daddy?" I asked with a voice which reminded me of my younger self, and as I looked down I was in the same shirt I wore the day he died.  
"You did this! You are at fault Rachel. See what you did, Demon!" He screamed at me, his eyes where almost white and his skin more gray than its normal color.  
His words hit deep inside my heart and I must have starred at his colorless dead face for longer than the few seconds I registered, because his fingers made a grasp for me.  
Instinct alone let me evade his attack, but it made me fall backwards from the car-roof into the blood. I screamed as I tried to regain my stand only to turn around and face down Ivy.  
Her face was as colorless as my fathers, her eyes black and soulless; her cold half-rotten fingers traced my cheek almost tenderly.  
"You killed us, demon!" She said emotionless and made a grip for my throat.

Again my instincts were faster than my brain, since I was able to elude it, by diving down into the blood. It was almost as high as my knees by now.  
I came to a stand a few feet away from her, my father has rounded the car and was now standing side by side with, undead-dead Ivy.  
"Demon-spawn!" Both of them said with enough hatred to kill a part of my soul.  
"I didn't." I had to tell them it had been Newt; this whole mess couldn't have been me.  
"Yes you did! You killed me, you killed my family, you killed everyone!"  
I swirled around to face another car, and my feet lost contact with the ground thanks to the slippery of blood. Jenks and his kids were standing on top and they looked like 'resident evil' coming alive, only with tattered wings.  
"No, I didn't." Tears slowly ran down my cheeks.  
"I knew you were bad news Rachel!" Trent's voice came from the side, and he looked as dead as everyone else, one eye was hanging out of its socket.  
"We should have killed her Sa'han!" Quen said right next to him.  
Person after person was rising out of the blood, like they were summoned from their graves. They surrounded me and their sheer presence was weighing my down, I had trouble breathing and wanted to run, but there was no place left, everything was filled with zombies.  
Pulse in my throat, I turned in circles until I found my mother's almost unrecognizable face; she stood right next to Ceri.

"You aren't my daughter, you couldn't. I haven't given birth to such a monster!" She said lowly and the blond elfin next to her, showed me a little skinless being which was still crying.  
"You did this to Maria… demon-spawn!" She hissed and threw the little baby at me.  
Again my reflexes made me dough that shot. Maria vanished in the sea of blood and the zombies began yelling at me all at once. Insults, revilements and other stuff, I lost track of what they were saying. It held no meaning anymore, they were right I was a monster.  
Something hit the surface of blood beside me and I saw them ripping parts off of their bodies and throwing them at me.  
"Monster!" A chorus rose over the shattered surface, again I shrieked and tried to get away from their body-parts, only to fall over them.  
"Leave me alone… leave me alone!" Weight suddenly pressed me down, made me sallow the cold blood which tasted like liquid death; hands were all over my body. They pulled and bit, ripped at my limbs, tried to take me apart. Pain flowed through me and made me scream in agony. The only person's name which might be able to accept my monstrosity fell from my lips.  
"Algaliarept, I summon you!" The zombies reeled back like I had burned them.  
"She summoned her demon!" Trent accused me, but otherwise silent enclosed us once more.

"Slowly losing your mind, aren't you?" A new voice joined us, and I would have been able to identify it everywhere. The demon was here, at least summoning worked. I turned around and the blood as well as the zombies disappeared, giving way to the broken surface of the ever after.  
"Al?" I asked surprised at his distancing behavior.  
"What are you doing on the surface? You shouldn't be here." He sounded condescending in a way I never heard him speak to me before.  
His fingers touched my arm and he helped me to my feet.  
"Look at you, all messed up!" He patted my robe free of the red dust and handled me my staff, which was made out of black obsidian.  
"May I escort you back to your rooms?" His British accent was suddenly politely again, since when was he changing moods like that?  
"My rooms?" I asked and my voice sounded strange, dark and childlike all the same.  
"Yes your rooms, we can't live on the surface anymore. Have you dosed yourself with forget-portions again?" His voice sounded displeased and almost as if he would be speaking with a child.  
"What is going on, Al!" I fought his grip on my arm and he let me.  
"Be reasonable, please. Let my bring you home!" He said and I looked up at him, totally baffled.  
"Where are the zombies? Where did all blood disappear to?" A chill started at my base, something was off here, really off.  
"Blood? Zombies? What are you talking about? Come one, love, let us discuss the matter over a cup of tea." That almost sounded like a plead, my fingers clasped around the staff almost as if I needed it to stay upright. I had seen that thing before, but where the hell?

The surroundings went blurry and I stood in front of a mirror, Al's presence at my back and what I saw was able to steal the last breath from me.  
"Your future, nice isn't it!" He whispered into my ear, right the moment I grasp the meaning of the black staff, the purple robe and my missing hair. I was staring right into the face of Newt. An undeniable scream grew in my belly and rose through my guts up to my mouth, it left with the loudest shriek I had ever heard.  
The mirror broke, Al disappeared, the staff, the robe, everything but myself faded to nothingness. It left my in a dark empty space, while I felt like insanity was beginning to ripe my soul apart.  
Fingers found my hair and pulled until I hold strands of them in my hands, I wasn't able to feel the pain anymore, but I wanted it, needed it to stay sane!

* * *

Rachel attracts trouble like nothing, what about her worst fears and how she might be able to escape them, the next chapter will show it.  
_I'm sorry for taking so long for that chapter, but my computer sort of died. So I had to get a new one first before writing once more ;)._


	30. Wounded

**A demoness awakens XXX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Jenks / Dali  
**Summary:** Rachel awakens from her cursed-inducted sleep, but as usually something had gone horrible wrong. Dali is back in the story and he is going to stay for a while.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXX: _Wounded_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
A weight I hadn't been aware of disintegrated into little flakes of ash and I woke again with a scream.  
The chatter of wings grew distant and two pixies stared down on me.  
Both were dusting a worried yellow, but one was black. I had never seen a black-grey pixy. The first spasm hit me right in the gut and I doubled over, forgot about the two flying creatures almost right away.  
"Algaliarept!" I wailed and tried to control the trembling, my very being graved his touch, his comfort, what was wrong with me?  
"What have you done to her, demon?" I heard one of the little guys screaming.  
"Ohhh this is bad…" The other one said and suddenly warm arms wound around me, the scent of burnt amber tickled in my nose and made me sneeze.  
"Is she being summoned?" The younger sounding pixy asked.  
"No, soul-wounded… damn it." His soul touched mine and I clinched at his arm with all strength I possessed.  
"Al… Al … Al… " It made no sense at all, but I turned around in his arms, my eyes full of tears and I kissed him with all desperation I could muster.  
He went stiff in my arms, and caressed my back.  
"Shhh… shhh… Rachel, everything is going to be okay." He whispered into my mouth, but I couldn't believe it. My mind reached for the line and he went even tauter.  
"What do you mean with soul-wounded?" The other pixy screamed at my demon, which made me press my self into him even more, enjoying his closeness and his warmth.

Distress from Al ran through my very being as he connected his mind to the collective, who was he calling up? I wanted to voice that question aloud but my vocals were denying me service, so I tried to do it via mind.  
Displaced air made itself known with a load pop, so Al was calling up another demon, just great. Everything inside my mind hoped it wasn't Newt. She was the last person I wanted to see right now. A low moan fell from my lips as I recognize the demon standing in front of us.  
Jenks cry of astonishment went right to my core and made me shiver in fear as the other demon reached for my face. Not a word, not a greeting, nothing, just a blank face.  
His unfamiliar aura burned mine and I tried to get even closer to Al. A low whimper came out of my throat and somehow I managed to build a barrier out of my demon's aura.  
'It hurts,' I complained and hoped he would get rid of this unpleasment presence.  
'It's Dali, he is here to help. You need it. Please Rachel, your soul got damaged, let him help you!' Al's voice spook right to my mind, he was pleading me to accept the demon's help again.  
"No…, " I whispered almost not making a sound.  
'You know what happened last time he helped us…' My fingernails were cutting his skin and his warm blood made me release my death-grip on his arm.  
"No…" Desperation gave my voice more force than before.

"What's up with her?" Jenks was dusting the color of orange, trapped between worry and anger. The goat-silted eyes of the court-boss found the pixy.  
"What's one of the pixy kind doing here?" His gaze found Al, and it appeared to be displeased and concerned all the same, but you never really know with demons.  
"He is a friend of Rachel… his name is Jenks."  
"And who are you, demon?" He was finally dusting red, and I loved him right there and then just for being who he was. Jenks was only four inch and stood no change against one demon, let alone two, but he was facing down both of them anyway. For me.  
Tears swelled up in my eyes as I remembered him and his brood accusing me of being at fault for their deaths. I would do everything within my power to prevent that dream from coming true.  
"I'm Dali, and Al asked for my help, so stop interrupting. This is important." His attention swept back to us, and it felt pretty uncomfortable, even through Al's aura and protective arms.  
"What have you done this time, Al?" He queried in a very tired voice, managing to look the part of the concerned parent, but I wasn't buying that crap.

"Long story short, the little man and his family attacked us. She knew it was some kind of test and tried to steal the curse I wanted to use for defensive purposes…" Dali made an offending gesture with his hand and brought silent over our little group.  
"You cursed her?" His eyes went a bit darker with that realization and he even manage a little irritated growl.  
My eyes found his, while my fingers touched Al's shoulders; I bared my teeth at him and voiced my own snarl. You had to give it to the older demon; he wasn't impressed the slightest by my show of bravery.  
"I have to know more about the side-effects or I can't help your." He said and eyeballed us over with more intensity.  
"What do you want for your help, another mark? Another of my-suppose-to-be-children?" Anger colored my voice dark and almost as demonic as it had been on other opportunities. Jenks went silent and dropped almost 10 inch of height before his wings started moving again.  
"You did WHAT?" He screamed and got into my face. I waved at him, half-hearty, while he evaded my hands, only to come to a stand in middle-air; the few feed between us felt good.  
His eyes shifted from one demon to the other, he took his usually Peter Pan pose. I almost asked if they were ready for one of his lectures, but I kept silent and smirked as he started.  
"Who of you came up with that fairy fart smelling fuck-shit of an idea?" His dust went black and if he would be able to pull an aura he surely would have done so.

Al hugged me tighter and he raised a finger and pointed it at Dali.  
"His." He said without any emotion in his voice at all.  
"Traitor." The forty-something looking demon uttered dryly, just as emotionless as Al.  
"So what about it, would you rather seen them both being Newt's toys?"  
"What about that crazy demon-mother of your tardy little society?"  
"You don't know about the church? Well Newt show up… and she dished out a lot of marks, lets just say, without my help their souls would belong to her. And damn me trice before I let that crazy bitch get them before I do. A deal is a deal little man." Dali somehow managed to sound unconcerned, like it was the boringest thing ever. My face went red with fury but Al kept my anger in check with his centuries of emotional control.  
"What deal?" The pixy-dust couldn't get any darker and Jenks looked like he would explode into a nova of black soon.  
"He somehow bought our marks from Newt and managed to hold onto his soul. He pays our dept and we … we owe him for his help." Al answered.  
"This is not an answer demon. I want to know about that child thing… if you think I would let you do that to Rachel, your death-ass wrong!" Al shifted under my weight and his eyes began to glow on Jenks tiny figure. I managed to fear for my business-partner's safety.  
"Rachel is my mate, and if she wants to bear my child it's not your decision to make!" He hissed at him, and got more black dust in return.

"Why the hell are you so bothered about that demon-woman anyway?" Dali asked and looked a bit confused at the four inch man.  
"She is my friend, my business-partner, and I consider her part of my family. Don't mock me you big ass with rotten fashion sense!" Jenks dusting got heavier, maybe he would pixy them both, that managed to make me grin a bit. 'Court-leader and bad-ass demon pixed by four inch man'; that almost sounded like the best headline of the demon-times in ages. Beside 'witch turned demon' and 'wackq throws party at palace'. Funny thing I didn't even know if the demons had something like a newspaper to start with, but it was for sure that Dali would never live it down when he would manage to get himself pixed.  
The demon in that ridiculous aloha-shirt paused for a second and eyed him over, probably thinking the same as me.  
"She was a witch and now she is a demon, how can she be of your blood?" A legal question at that point.  
"What so? Family has not always to be blood-related. It doesn't mean crap. If I say they are part of my family, they are. Matalina never objected, so it counts as much as the real deal. You dare to complain aura-soiled bastard?" Dali made a face somewhere between amazement and annoyance, Al just laughed, loud and deep.  
"Jenks, may I introduce you to my father. This is Dali. Dali meet Jenks, pixy-dad to my mate." Al sounded amused as hell, as the pixy lost height again, and Dali starred at us with a confusion too deep to be faked.  
Jenks landed on my knee and glared at my demon, which was sniggering like he had lost his mind somewhere. The imbroglio of the situation grew from second to second.  
I came to the astonishing realization that Jenks aura wasn't hurting me at all. Why had Dali's aura felt like being seared by a fire?

"Your… father?" The pixy sounded bemazed and examined the intruding demon again.  
The said demon eyeballed the little man over and sighed.  
"Yes, his father. And what brings you to the gimmick of playing demon-daddy little man?"  
"Don't you start Dali! I already had my fight with him." Al replied before Jenks had the time. I threw a quick glance at my demon only to get a kiss on my eyebrow.  
"You fought with him?" His old man managed to look even more thrown of his trace.  
A few seconds ticked by in which I wasn't sure what his old man would to next, Dali's face was a mixture of too many emotions to be sure. It finally settled on ardor.  
"Interesting! This might be the first time in demon-history something like that happened, how exciting. So Jenks of the pixies claimed a demoness as his daughter of mind. Little man this is not going to be childs-play." He rubbed his hands with glee.  
"I like that. It has been ages since I had experienced something new. I consider it payment for my help with that little affair here." He pointed at us and I really disliked his easy-going nature. It only proved we have missed something on a critical base.

Al finally relaxed, while I looked his dad over with suspicion.  
'I don't like that.' Our connection enabled me to tell him without giving it away to Dali, Al just smiled down on me.  
'Don't. It's okay this time. Dali is old, maybe as old as the sun; he has probably witnessed the creation of earth. For him to see something which doesn't bore him is payment enough. At least I think so. And by the way he already accepted it as payment so it counts, he can't just shift payments after he agreed on something.' His words sent shudders down my spin.  
'Jenks had a fight with you? And he survived?' Worry flowed through me.  
'Yes he did. That man, even when he is only four inches in height has guts, and I value his bravery, it was a fair fight with fists and feet. Really fun, haven't had that good a fight in ages.' He sounded amused, while I wasn't pleased at all. It made me long to yell at him, but his scent was able to calm enough of my raising blood-pressure to keep my level of mental noise to a bearable volume.

'Why?' I only managed to ask before I became aware of a fleeing pixy and a face right in front of mine.  
"She is better than before, her soul heals pretty quickly! A few hours of sleep and she will be back to full strength." Dali eyed over his son, which I was trying to crawl into, so the other demon wouldn't touch me.  
"That's good. But I don't… we don't have time to… sleep." He stammered, strange I never heard Al doing that. Neither did Jenks and he laugh aloud because of it, mumbling something about demons and speech impediment. A low hiss of Al proved he hadn't missed that comment.  
"So, and what makes my son and his mighty mate evade sleep?" He asked inquiring.  
"A promise to Trenton of the elves and to Ivy of the living vampires," my demon sounded like he wasn't all peachy keen about sharing that information.

"Trenton Aloysius Kalamack, the one who mended her illness and gifted us with the first at least marginal sane female in ages?" Dali's voice was all business and it worried me great deal, my mate wasn't any less concerned.  
"Exact!" Al confirmed his query.  
"What do you promised him?"  
"Äh… you ain't gonna like that. We need a Godparent curse." The older demons eyes went glowing and I growled up at him. Almost as if my very being was itching for a fight. The only thing holding me back was Al right now.  
His father shifted his displeased scowl to me.  
"Godparent-curse? Are you insane? Who?" He demanded and hell he looked even more dangerous, but I couldn't pinpoint why.  
"Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate's child." Al sounded almost beaten, which I didn't like. His whole almost submissive behavior was pissing me off. He was my mate, and he had to stand with me, against whoever might try to oppose us. Father or not, this were the rules. Where I knew them from was beyond me.  
"You did WHAT?" Funny how a 5000 plus year old demon could sound like an 18 year old pixy.  
"Back off." I hissed.  
"Who I want as my Godchild is none of your fucking business!" I growled darkly, my voice was back to pissed demoness. Even that wasn't able to impress the demon in front of me, but he was dealing with Newt on an almost daily base, so why was I surprised by his lack of response?  
"Oh it is! She is an elf, that Ceri. So is her daughter"  
"Funny isn't it. I do give a rat's ass about it. The girl is cute. And that stupid war has perpetuated for too long already. It will end and it will end with me!" Both demons went silent for a few heartbeats only to start talking at the same moment

I never loss the touch of Al's warm skin but I almost stood up to get in Dali's face.  
"Haven't both races suffered enough by now? All that cursing, see where it took the both of your? What is double genocide going to solve? I tell you what, nothing!"  
"You want to restore the elves? Hell I ought to sue you for uncommon stupidity right away." He reeled back and his dark eyes were starting to worry me, but Jenks affirming wings on my shoulder gave me the strength what Al's touch was lagging.  
"Yes indeed I intend to do that. You want me to give birth to new demons, bringing your kin alive once more with it, don't you?" That managed to silenced him again, I didn't know if he wanted the demons resuscitate to their old glory, but I was sure he wanted back his mate.  
"Face it, Newt is not going to do it. Ever! I'm the only one who is able to perform the act needed to create them and … " I looked down onto Al's chest and even clothed I remembered each fine hair, and every muscle on it. A bit of heat came as my imagination run wild. Oh great, was this the sign that I was alright again? Danger over, lust rebooted?  
"… maybe some day, I will. Condition is that you leave the elves and their affairs alone."  
"You will bring all that drama they dropped on us back alive!" Dali was gesturing wildly.  
"NO! I'm not! Don't you the fuck get it? Fear and mistrust are clouding your minds. Trent had a thousand chances to kill me, and I had plenty of them as well. And see we both are still alive. There can be trust between elves and demons!"

"Have you eaten a Hippy for breakfast?" He grasped some glass and crushed it in his hand, cutting his skin with the sharp material. Red liquid dropped down to the floor. The sight made me feel sick again, but I concentrated on my anger.  
"You trust Kalamack?" My demon asked a bit bewildered at my statement and a big portion of jealousy mixed in. I had to pause for a few seconds to really think about his question. If I answered it, I wanted it to be the truth.  
"Somehow, yes I do, and even if there were no Trent, I trust Ceri." My hands were busy with his fork coat and he watched my fingers play with the green velvet, there was some heat in his eyes which didn't came from anger.  
"Al your mate is even cuckooier than Newt!" The older demon said and Jenks laughed at him.  
"I don't know about Newt, but you ain't seen nothing yet. If someone would give me a penny each time she comes up with one of her fairy winged insane ideas I would be a fucking billionaire. But tell you what demon-daddy, the looniest part of this is: They work! You want the impossible done; Rachel Morgan is the girl to go for!" That was utterly heart-warming, his trust, and praise.  
"Nevertheless, everyone who trusts an elf is ass wracked crazy."  
"So what, you have two loony female instead of one. Suck it up big boy and help us make it work, instead of telling us it's impossible. I have known this girl for two years, and she never backs down once she has a plan." I could have kissed the little guy right now.  
"I'm not going to give you that curse, not without another mark."  
"Oh yes you're, unless you want Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate sueing her for breaking a contract. You should look on the bright side of the deal; Rachel is going to gain control over the only cured elf in two millennia, beside wouldn't it be nice to see the woman's face let alone Trent's when the girl receives the curse? What do you say, Dali? Want in on the baptism?" Al suggested and got my elbow right between his ribs.

"Trent is not going to like it." I said, while Jenks laughed out loud.  
"By Tink's dildo, he will barf up fairy infants like crazy. Three demons in a church, maybe you should invite all of them over to party. This ought to drive the elf nuts" The blond pixy was dusting bright cream-color with amusement and almost fell of my shoulder.  
"You sound like she is doing that fairly often." Dali muttered in direction of the pixy-voice on my shoulder.  
"You have no idea, and if it comes to pissing off Trent she behaves like a drug-addicted."  
"Gee, thanks Jenks!" I commented with a sigh.  
Dali licked his hand clean of the blood and watched me observing his actions.  
"Ah, yes. So, I know what you promised Ceri, what about Trenton and sweet little Ivy?" His auburn-gray hair fell in front of his eyes.  
"Trent needs a calling-mirror to contact us. I'm not going to give him my name, and I think he is to chicken-livered to summon Al."  
"Precisely!" Said demon confirmed my statement.  
His dad shrugged on us, the scrying-mirror seemed to be no big deal for him.  
"And the vampire?" His eyes were burning almost red and it sent cold shivers down my spin.  
"She is mine. And Cormel dared to blackmail her; I will teach him what he is up against!" I growled lowly, while Al caressed my back.

"Not even demon for two whole days and she already goes up against the undead…" The old man raised an eyebrow at me, after this he switched his eyes over to my mate.  
"Al, don't die on me again!" His son made an ugly face because of that comment; he clearly wasn't over that incident.  
"I don't plane on it." He answered close-lipped.  
The older demon sat down beside us and grinned almost happily, something was up and I didn't like it.  
"So what are you planning then?" Al fell silent at that, and I got the feeling that question wasn't as innocent as it sounded.  
"We go and kick his ass of course, damn blood drinking fang wielding undead ball of shit." Jenks did it for us, and the demons eyes switched to him.  
"Oh that sounds wild and interesting. Take me with you." His comment was able to startle us all, but it weren't his words alone the glow in his eyes made him look like a five year old promised to visit Disney World.  
Uneasiness flowed through Al and I eyed his dad over. Not liking him any better then the first time I met him.  
"Forget it I don't trust you!" I growled at Dali, which torn a little snigger from him until his eyes became rock hard business-like once more.  
"Doesn't matter, you take me with you for shit and giggles and I consider the curse for Godparenthold paid. The only other demon knowing about that one and still alive is Newt, if she remembers it, that is. And she hates elves with a passion, good luck with trying to convince her, giving it to you." A shit-eater-grin ran over his expression and gave me the urge to smash his face in.

Al went white somehow and a low growl fell from me, but I knew he was the saver bet of the two. Even if I hated him even worse than my own demon, I would rather take my chances with him, than Newt.  
"No one gets snatched, killed, harmed, spelled, cursed, hurt or otherwise messed with when you come with us. You will keep yourself in the background. And don't you dare messing up our operation." I said, and the demon look so pleased it made me worried. The warm hand of Al on my shoulder was turning me on somehow, but the excitement about the upcoming run was balancing it well enough, so I didn't jumped his bones.  
"Well this is going to be one hell of a run; two demons acting and a third in for sightseeing. Nee, Dali, listen, you mess this up and I will eat your balls for breakfast." The little man on my shoulder said, making the two demons laugh their ass off.  
I rose from the bench, irritated with both of them.  
"Prepair the stuff for my sleeptime-portions." I ordered the dark haired, fork coated one. How his fashion-sense could be that different from his father's was beyond me, but maybe he came more after his mother on this one.  
Both demons raised eyebrows at me and I thought for the umpteenth time that I wanted to be able to do the same thing.  
"Don't look at me like that…" This behavior was starting to piss me off, especially since Dali ignored my stare.  
"Sleep-time-potions?" His eyes found Al's and my demon shrugged at him.  
"She is playing witch to kick his ass." He answered the unvoiced question of his father.

Dali just shook his head and sighed.  
"And why is that?" annoyance colored the ancient demon's voice darker than usually.  
"The undead are pretty tough to impress, if she can kick his ass as a witch, she sure as hell could roast his balls as a demoness." Yadda, yadda I left the two of them to their chit chat to pick up Ivy.

* * *

God I love Jenks, he is totally awesome. Dali and him in a room and I laugh my ass off.  
I have got a blast writing this fiction, and finally an idea how to solve the Cormel-affair, currently writing on that one ^^. For everyone who was about to asked if I would ever manage to get that far. Yes and it's going to be one scary piece of shit ^^.

_I notice that my comments are becoming less and less in numbers, is this due to no one reading my fiction anymore, or just because my chapters don't have enough substance for a review? Would love to know what I'm doing wrong, please give me an response :). _


	31. Vampires Charms reunion

**A demoness awakens XXXI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Jenks / Ivy  
**Summary:** Al and Dali are about to start a serious discussion. Rachel goes to pic up Ivy. How will the vampire react after the almost-threesome with the demons. What's gonna happen now that  
Jenks is in the ever-after too. At least "Vampires charms" is back again ^^.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXI: _Vampires charms reunion_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
I misted back into existence in Al's bedroom. Jenks was off my shoulder in seconds, inspecting the window (which currently showed the bottom of the sea in daylight) with interest. I had seen something similar in Dali's office when I met him for the first time.  
He had been sitting behind a big-ass desktop on the beach of a tropical island.

The pixy poked the glass and got no reaction at all.  
"Is that thing real?" he asked, looking at me with bewilderment while dusting an excited gold.  
I shook my head.  
"It must be some kind of curse. Al hasn't explained it to me yet." I said, and wondered if it was a thing of Dali's, Newt's or Al's creation. I'd asked him as soon as possible.

"Damn powerful, those crazies. Why are we here, Rachel?" he asked, and flew to the bed, maybe to get a sniff of Al's and my merged scents on the sheets. The thought of it made my face red as my hair, and made another part of me crazy with longing for a reprise experience.  
I shook my head and refocused on our run. Jenks could be pretty pervert sometimes…

"To pick up Ivy." My fingers found the door to Al's bathroom and jerked it open, only to regret it a second later. A bottle of something purple hit the wall right beside me and made me dive to the floor.

"Ivy!" I screamed plaintively, while I tried to get my feet under me.  
Cormel's frame stood 10 feet away, two more bottles in hand. Somehow I got the feeling Al wouldn't be amused by her actions- those curses might have cost the broke demon a fortune

Jenks entered the room and his dust flashed almost painfully white as he locked eyes with the guy in front of him.  
"What, by Tink's freaking jingle-bells, is Rynn Cormel doing in Al's bathroom?" he asked, and bared his blade on Ivy. Her black eyes found the pixy, who was dusting dark red right now.

"Jenks, easy! That's Ivy?" I said, trying to calm down both of them.  
"Ivy?" The little man inquired mid-air, while the vampire's eyes flashed back to the normal grey ones of Cormel.  
"Jenks? What the hell are you doing here?" she interrogated while her eyes shifted back to me, still balancing the bottles in her grip.

I was unsure what she wanted to do with them, but standing once more felt damn good.  
"He is going to help us kick Rynn's ass. And please put down those bottles. They're curses." Her eyes went wild eyes as she stared at the bottles like they would bite her, probably imagining what had happened to her with the last one.  
"Like the one…?" Her voice failed her. I nodded. She put the things down with unusual care. Truth was, I didn't know what curses were in there, but it couldn't be good to get hit with that stuff.

"Why does she look like Cormel?" The pixy asked as he flew over to her, slowly circling around her.  
"She smells like him too." His arms crossed over his chest and his face took on a disagreeable expression.

"I took a demon-curse, after that bastard of hers broke my arm." A low snarl accompanied that comment, and the pixy came over to fly in my face.

"You never said a word about that." He accused me. My only reaction was a little shrug.  
"She's healed, and I took the smut, so no harm done." It almost shocked me how much I was able to sound like Al. That I managed to appear that nonchalant about another layer of demon blackness on my soul made it even worse.

Apartly Jenks and Ivy were startled as well.  
"She sounds like Al…" the vampire said, disgust coloring her otherwise beautiful voice.

"I can't change what's done. Come on, Ivy, tonight is going to be busy. Kicking an undead's ass has to be planned out well. And there's a communication curse for Trent to be stirred, too." She made round eyes at me, but her questioning look shifted to the pixy. They were so right, I really did sound like that freaking demon. Worry came over me as I thought about losing myself to him.

"Don't look at me like that. She picked me up at Trent's." the pixy said.  
Ivy made an irritated motion with her hand, signaling that she wanted to hear more.  
"Where was I supposed to go after she ran wild with demon-magic? I had to save my family, and there was no other place." Ivy starred at the little man and came over to me, closing some of the distance she had kept between us since I entered the bathroom.  
That she still didn't want to touch me hurt my feelings. But after the stunt Al had pulled on us? I could hardly blame her.

A flash of desire ran to my groin as I remembered both their hands all over me. A low growl escaped my lips before I banished the thought. It was bad enough to desire the demon. That Ivy got a weaker version of it, despite the fact that I was still straight, made me feel absolutely unlike myself.

"Don't tell me you managed to invade Trent's garden." She laughed a bit jadedly.  
"No, invading is the wrong word for it. More like I talked him into it. Ceri was a big help too." Ivy's eyes shifted over the little guy and me.

"How is she?" A bit of worry made her voice sound less ugly.  
"She is fine, and her daughter is really sweet. Her name's Maria." He said.

A proud smile curved my lips as I thought about the cute baby-girl.  
"First healed-up elf in thousands of years, and guess who got chosen as Godmother?" The pixy sniggered and landed on the vampires shoulder.

Ivy's jaw dropped, and she made a big O-expression with her lips.  
"You?" A shit-load of unasked questions went with that one word.  
Like: 'why you?' and 'didn't she try to kill you a day ago' and 'aren't you a demon?' and 'wasn't there a war going on between elves and demons?' or simply 'is Trent finally going to kill you now?' I sighed.  
"Yes me. There is a curse for it. And since Ceri has to teach one of her daughters how to spindle line-energy, Maria is going to have a big fat demon bull's-eye on her forehead anyway." Ivy raised one of Rynn's beautiful eyebrows, even if her own managed to be more perfect.  
"And what about the Godmother stuff." She passed the threshold and entered the bedroom, wary of almost everything, like the bed, the cupboards, the wall or even the floor would bite her. Her whole body-language practical screamed 'get me the fuck out of here'.

Sadly, I found myself smirking at her. I enjoyed her discomfort for a second, but only until I became aware of my emotion and crushed it. Inwardly, I cursed my demon-infected mind- friends in pain shouldn't feel good at all.

"As her Godmother, every demon has to answer to my call if they try to claim her." I said.  
Ivy looked at me with a bit of suspicion in her eyes.  
"I don't like that much. This is going to attract trouble." Her voice was fully back to normal, but she still kept distance between us.

"Like Rachel has been doing anything else in her whole life. They should have named her Rachel Trouble Morgan." the little man uttered from above.  
I eyed him and felt hurt. Ivy, though, thought it was funny and sniggered at his comment.

"Mind getting me out of here, and back into my own body? I don't like Cormel's face staring at me from the mirror."

"You look better when you're yourself, vampire. We are gonna have a talk about that curse later, Rache." A grim glance shifted back to me. Oh, just great. I was in for one of his lectures again.  
"It wasn't my damn fault, not entirely anyway. I ripped my damned thumb off and Al wanted me to reset myself with a curse. I refused, of course. After hurting me wasn't helping matters, he went for Ivy." My voice hit ground zero of displeasure. Luckily it still sounded like my own, with not the slightest bit of demon in it.

The little guy shrugged, but I knew the nagging pixy well enough to be sure that this wasn't over yet.

"Well, what now?" The vampire made a gesture down her body, like she was waiting.  
A second sigh left me.  
"Come on over here, if you want to get out of there. To untwist the curse, I have to be connected to your aura." Where this little piece of knowledge was coming from was a mystery. My bet was Al, but I refused to linger on the thought, and what it might implicate.

Reluctantly she came within touching distance, while the pixy watched us with puzzlement.  
It annoyed the hell out of me that my best friend and on-off blood-balance bitey was now refusing to let me touch her. A growl rose out of my throat and before she could step back again I grasped her wrist.  
My mind touched the line and with a little shift of thought, black ever-after surrounded her.

Once more in her own skin she was hairy all over and naked. Jenks almost fell out of the air as he doubled over laughing at the face she made.  
"You look like Rache when she shifted back after wereing into a wolf." My arm darted to catch him.  
I almost made it, but the little man was faster still, and landed on the outstretched hand with elegance.  
"Tink's dildo …" A snarl from Ivy made him fell silence, but he was still grinning provoking at her.

I ignored the glaring vampire and opened one of Al's closets- only to close it right away. I gulped. Whatever was behind that doors shouldn't leave the spelled wood uncontrolled; at least that was what my instincts told me. Slowly I made my way to the bed, while Ivy tried to open the other closet.

"Hands off the closet. Whatever'is inside of it, it isn't very friendly, and I don't want it to bite our heads off. We'll just have to take the sheets again until I can ask Al for proper clothing." Ivy was looking at me with black eyes, like she wanted to kick me hard.  
"You're kidding, right?"

The sheets of Al's bed were a dark purple now. It reminded me of the robe my dream image of Newt had been wearing. That thought made me dizzy and I had to take a grip on the bed to keep upright. The dream flashed back at me, with my two business-partners watching me. 'Great, I just love this day.'

My eyes shifted to the vampire and it took me an ass full of will to not evade her gaze.  
"What do you want? Are you so damn hot to run around naked?" I grabbed the sheet and threw it at her.  
"That's fine with me, just leave the fabric here when I jump you!" Jenks land on the back end of the bed and sniggered over that exchange.  
"Can't you give me normal clothing?" she hissed at me, then glared at the pixy.  
"The only clothes I can give you are my own. Do you want to mix smells again?" Ivy flashed as red as my hair and scowled at the silk in her fingers.  
Jenks rolled on the wood and came to lie on his stomach, his wings a blur of motion, with the golden sparkles of excitement shifting from them. He watched Ivy.  
"Don't talk about that!" A little hint of teeth showed as she tried to tie the silk around herself.

The pixy was in the air and flying around her in circles again.  
"Tink is a Disney whore. You smell…" The vampire tried to hit him, but the little man was faster than she, evading the attack with ease.  
Instead of riling her up more, he came to me.  
"Is there some new history between the two of you?" My face matched my hair as did Ivy's, and a low growl came from my lips.  
"Shut your trap!" I whispered, afraid I would start screaming if I put any more force into my voice.  
"You finally had sex, and you wanted to keep it from me. I'm hurt." Hurt? He sounded more like he was laughing his ass off.  
"We hadn't." I defended myself.  
I was straight and the little bug ought to know that!  
"Suuuure, and what are the two of you blushing so hard about?" he sniggered again.

"Because I cursed the vampire and tried for a threesome. If that damned elf hadn't interfered, I would have gotten it." Al's voice filled the room and the three of us whirled to face him.

The knuckles on Ivy's fist went white with the effort to control her anger. She closed her eyes and was probably counting down from hundred.  
I went even redder as Jenks had to grip my hair for support.  
"You're kidding?" I couldn't tell if Jenks' voice was filled with amusement or imminent rage.  
"Nope." He strode over to me and his hand went around my waist, his nose against my neck. Hell I hadn't even tried to evade his touch, and now his smell was affecting me.

Ivy's eyes were still black, but I wasn't sure if it was lust or wrath about that revelation. Jenks, still on my shoulder, poked the demon in the eye and made him reel back, cursing.  
Al reset himself.  
"You little bug." he growled at the pixy.

My hand moved between the upcoming staring-contest of them.  
"Behave, for fuck's sake. There is an undead waiting. No more sex talk! Stop pissing off my friends or I'll start to piss of yours." I hissed at him.  
Of course, that threat would only work if he actually had friends, which I doubted.  
Al looked me up and down, a smirk on his face.  
"Oh, I would love you to try that. Get me a camera first to catch their stupid expressions when they see what train hit them."  
The demon didn't doubt that I was able to piss them off; he wasn't hinting I wouldn't try either. No, he was actually gloating all over the idea.  
Of course, what had I expected`? He was a demon, and friendship between the immortals was probably something entirely different from the friendship mortals shared.

"Sicko." Ivy said angrily, and managed to draw the fabric even harder around her body.  
He looked her up and down, a shit-eating grin right on his face.  
"Oh, like you didn't enjoy yourself as much as we did. Better be grateful I share. Otherwise I would boil your blood for even desiring the touch of my mate." His voice began to sound darker and it made me shiver.  
"Who ever said I wanted to share?" The vampire was pissed off. I could smell her anger in the air, as did Jenks and Al.  
Pixy dust went yellow with worry and the gleeful expression on the demons face spook volumes about his intentions.

I couldn't believe these two!  
A deep growl came from my throat and I grasped him by the lace of his shirt.  
"Share? I'm not some fucking familiar, and I'm also not your shadow!" I faced Ivy while I screamed the last.  
"It's not your fucking decision to share me! I'm not some thing to be shared, I'm my own person! Stop talking like I'm not in the same room with you. And if either of you get the bright idea of treating me like some fucking property again, I will start killing people!"

Ivy and Jenks where shocked at my demon-dark voice. Al just smirked right in my face, as if somehow felling proud of himself, which just made me even more furious.  
My eyes leveled on him, while my mouth twisted into a demonic grin on its own.  
"Tell you what, until the two of you make good with each other, and apologize to me for being such assholes, blood and sex are off the menu."

Al eyed me over. His scent deepened with another more erotic note, which made gooseflesh rise on my skin.  
'Your heat isn't over yet. Do you really believe you can withstand my pull?'  
_'Oh that fucking asshole, so full of himself!'_ He might be right about that, since heat was traveling to my loins and I wanted nothing more than to feel him inside of me.  
Not entirely true, there was one thing I wanted to do more, and that was to kick his ass.

Anger gave me the power to ignore my increasing desire.  
"Right, O mighty, mighty demon-lord of the ass-crack, keep it up and you're never gonna fuck me ever again." I poked his chest, reached for a line.  
"You… will… keep … your … hands … off … of … me!" I hissed right into his face.  
The slits of his eyes narrowed, showing more of his red irises. Humor drained from them as he got that I indeed meant it. What had he expected of me? He really thought I would beg him for sex in front of my friends after he proved to be the biggest macho of the two worlds?  
If so, he had another thing coming.  
"Got it?" My voice was total tried to touch my hand on his chest, which was a mistake.  
Line-energy repelled him right into the next wall. His body left a dent where he hit, and Al went misty. Fiery anger radiated from him as he reappeared.

I, on the other hand turned my back to him, facing my friends. They were pale as new fallen snow, both lost for words.  
"You have something to complain about, Ivy?" I asked her with that dark voice of mine, only getting a shake of head as an answer. That she wasn't trying to argue appeased a part of my angry soul.

I walked over to where they waited, wary about my mood and probably about Al's as well, since he had changed to his black-ass demon-god form.  
Ice ran through my veins as I imagined that being his real self. I still hadn't asked him about that.

My arm caught Ivy's and she shifted her attention back to me.  
"Take it easy, Al, you have only yourself to blame. Take a cold shower. I'll be in the kitchen, if you decide to play nice again." My finger urged the pixy to land on my shoulder, but the little guy went for Ivy's instead.  
Maybe he didn't trust me right now.

My demon growled in frustration and threw the bed at us. It was unbelievable, how much strength his body possessed. Even if he risked hurting me by putting it on display like that, it attracted me big-time. I matched our three auras to his inter-room jumping system and we were gone. The bed hit empty air and we entered the kitchen.

* * *

Still love Jenks like crazy. Al and Ivy are both pretty possessiv and hell Rachel just had enough of it. We will see how long she will keep the "not giving you any" police going. ^^

_I thank _Demon Piper, twitchy witch, Bibliophile1521 _and _ZuliaGirl,_ for their reviews. It proved to me that their are still people out there reading my fiction. Thank you very much ^^.  
_


	32. Party in a demon's kitchen

**A demoness awakens XXXII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Jenks / Ivy  
**Summary:** Ivy, Jenks and Rachel jump into the kitchen and find Dali in there. The demon annonced that he is coming with them. Only problem is that Ivy doesn't like Dali's attempt's to scare himself into her pants. Did I mention the vampire is only covered by a sheet from Al's bed?

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXII: _Party in a demon's kitchen_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
The smell of herbs tickled my nose and I sneezed at its intensity. Someone was mixing up spells. My eyes searched for Pierce. The dead guy was Al's familiar after all.

Ivy went dead still in my grip, her shock and fear went from straight to my core. I threw a quick glace into her direction, only to see her pale as white snow again.  
"What." I asked quietly, so I wouldn't scare her even more.  
My voice was surprisingly back to normal.

"So you're done with your little taming. Rachel Marianna Morgan. No time to rest, but time to fuck. Feisty, dear." As the voice of Dali rose from the central fire pit, Ivy's grip on my arm started to hurt.  
"Oh, you brought me a gift, how surprisingly hospitable of you!" Another shit-eating grin came over him. Now I was at least able to pinpoint where my demon got that annoying habit from.

"Welcome to the ever-after, Ivy Alisha Tamwood." He slowly went over to us, and no one reacted before he lifted the vampire's hand to kiss it on the palm.  
She trembled with the effort to control her fight-or-flight-instincts. Her eyes closed as she groaned softly, which made me draw her behind me.

"Back off, demon!" The little man was right beside me with his sword bared.  
Dali's leer shifted to a business-like glare.

"I took the liberty of starting up the sleep-time potions," he said in a nonchalant voice, but his intense red eyes spoke of other ideas.

"Jumping in for Pierce, are we?" I asked him, knowing it would piss him off to be compared to a mere familiar. He didn't take the bait, instead he just raising an eyebrow.  
"No, but your mate and that little plaything of yours hiding behind you kept you busy for too long, and I want to see Rynn Matthew Cormel begging for merce tonight."

Ivy voiced a low noice I wasn't able to categorize. It could have been a hiss, a growl or a whine.  
"He… is… coming too…?" she whispered into my ear, which made me remember our little incident of shared pleasure. I blushed again.  
"Sadly yes, we had to make a deal with him." I said, confirming her fears.

The demon raised his eyebrow even higher and laughed at my expression.  
"So he hasn't satisfied you at all." It was a mere statement but it pissed me off. Was he hinting that my mate wasn't good enough to keep me? I was about to ask that question aloud in challenge, but Jenks' voice brought me back into my right mind. Sadly I missed whatever he was saying. It must have been something short and definitivly rude by the looks on Dali's face. And damn it all back to the Turn, defending Al's honor wasn't like me after all.

"Nothing? Well, Little Miss Fangs, you don't look like nothing covered only by that little piece of silk. What were the two of you doing before you jumped here?" His inquiring look made me angry.

"Mind your own business, demon-daddy. What the two of them were doing isn't your cup of honey." Jenks buzzed right between Ivy and me.  
"No? That one is my daughter in law, and that one owes me a mark, so I do believe it's partly my business." He smiled at me as he spoke to Jenks.

"You gave her a mark? When?" I asked, voice worried, while the court's leader smirked. Almost on instinct I invoked my second sight and looked up Ivy's aura.  
Dali had said he would give Ivy one, but I never witnessed the placing of it. I needed to see it to be sure.  
The said vampire shied away from my touch and tried to cover the black hole in her aura that identified the demon's mark. My eyes switched back to Dali.  
"She is mine." All emotions drained out of my voice and it sounded threatening on another level than the dark demon-voice.  
I felt anger swelling up inside of Ivy, since I had just screamed at her for treating me like proberty, and her I was doing it myself.  
"Not completely, you have to pay off Newt's marks first." Another smirk and I really wanted to kill him.

Al's fingers twined around my wrist and he drew me into him.  
'When had he entered the kitchen?'  
"So twisted my itchy witch?" he practical purred into my curls, only to center his attention on Dali while new heat traveled to my groin. Damn those demon-hormones!

"Are the curses and potions done?" my demon asked his father, who raised an eyebrow at the demanding emphasis behind that question.  
"Almost. The sleepy-time potions will be done soon. As for the other curses, I used a few from my own supply. It will be a perfect opportunity for your student to twist me the replacements." Another shit-eating grin and the Al's grip on my shoulder increased.

"I…" of course wanted to tell the demon just where he could stick his curses, but Al sent a little imbalance through me and made me gasp.

"Done." His mind touched mine and I became aware of his own arousal. Was he trying to prove that he could have me whenever he chose to?

A low growl left me, while I tried half-heartedly to flee his touch.  
'Don't start an argument with him. He could have charged for his curses instead of simply demanding replacements. We don't have time to stir them on our own right now.'  
He kept me trapped against his hard chest and his scent made the sensory overload even worse.  
'We don't have time to fuck either.' I reminded him, and wonder of wonders, Al stepped back, leaving me to fight my weak knees by myself.  
"Correct." And my demon was off to the stove, watching my sleep-time-charms boil.

Ivy was beside me and grasped my arm to put it over her shoulders, supporting my weight. I was thankful for her interference, since I was on the verge of killing Al for his sassiness in leaving me standing all hot and bothered like that.  
Her nose touched my neck's skin and I sensed her grip tightening.  
"Umm… Ivy?" I asked warily as her longing for my blood colored her eyes black.

Fingers found their way into her hair and she was pulled back, only to face Dali.  
The demon was majorly irritated, and two bottles dangled in front of us.  
"Take them, kids! Or I will busy myself with you, while Al teachs little fire-head a leason in the art of demon-sex," the old man managed to purr, a sound what sent a cold shiver down my spin.

My eyes found Al as I sensed his jealous feelings centering on Dali.  
Somehow, I knew that it was going to end badly if I refused the curse in front of me.

Ivy on the other hand kicked the demon on his knee and sent him almost two feet back. Her eyes were black with fury this time. Dali on the other hand held a purple piece of fabric in his fingers. It left the vampire standing as naked as the Gods made her. She blinked at the sudden realiziation and looked down, almost as if she had to check before believing it.

I watched with growing terror how the older demon raised the fabric to his nose and took a big sniff of Ivy's scent, licking his lips at whatever he sensed there. Saddest of all was that I knew how a gesture like that from Al would have affected me. Another cold shiver ran over me. Hell, that demon was fucking creepy.  
Not knowing what I should do, my eyes found Al.  
'What the hell is that father of yours doing?'  
'I think, he's got a hard-on for your vampire.'  
'Do something!' My mental voice managed to sound hysterical.

Dali stepped right into Ivy's personal space. The pissed vampire didn't know what to do either. His fingers found her back as he circled her, coming to a stop right behind her.  
"Turned on by demons? Oh, I can show you …" he purred into her neck. His scream interrupted the sentence he was preparing to speak. Dali reeled back. His fingers lost the fabric he was holding, as he tried to slam Jenks across the room. The demon missed his target, and I wanted someone to tell me what had just happened. Somehow I was missing flacks of time. Guess how I blame this on. Let me give you a hint, it was warm and glued to my backside, a hard budge giving away his interest.

Ivys reconquer the silk and a second later she was covered once more, even if she was as red as my hair. A moment of utter silence passed, in which Ivy brought the central fire pit between Dali and herself.

Jenks was a sun of black dust. He glared down at Al's dad furiously, his sword bared for a fight.  
"Keep your creepy demon mitts off of Ivy! It's bad enough to know one of you fairy fart-sniffing bastards is screwing Rachel!

The old man, which appeared to have been pixed, finally went misty. He reappeared as a younger-looking vision of himself, still in his Hawaiian shirt and a khaki trouser. Long blond wavy hair fell down his back and a little designer stubble gave his checks a fresh look.  
"You are going to regret that." He hissed at the pixy.

Al stepped between the two of them, giving his father one of his transparent liquid-filled bottles. He took the curses out of Dali's hands, checked the contents, and passed me one.  
"Drink it." He ordered while he sent the other bottle over to Ivy via his line skills.  
"You, too." Red eyes locked with her black orbs, before he centered his attention back on Dali.

Said demon was coming down faster than I'd expected. Instead of draining the curse he had been given, he returned it to its owner's hands. Dali shook his head and without uttering another word, he strode over to the stove by the fire pit.

This, of course, was the place Ivy was hiding from him. She watched him walk over toward her and her expression pleaded with me to do something against it.  
I grasped the curse from my demons hand and nudged him in the ribcage. His eyes found mine and with an exasperated sigh he jumped over to the vampire.

"Drink it!" His fingers picked up the curse, shoving it almost into her face. She backed up from Al and panic filled her. Now it was time for me to sigh.  
Jenks was flying over there, and I jumped too.  
My roommate stepped right into me, as I misted back into existence.  
My arms went around her. She fought me, until the knowledge of who was holding her sidled into her mind.  
"No one is gonna hurt you!" My voice sounded part like myself and part demonic, eyes switching over the males in the room.

"Right, boys?" The question was sarcastical as both of them watched me. Dali sighed again and came to the decision that deliberately ignoring Ivy and me was the right thing to do.  
Instead he started messing with the sleepy-time potions again.

Good, that only left Al to worry about. Our eyes met over the tense body of the vampire. Ivy's scent was affecting me. Even as a woman, she awoke some of my instincts awake, which cause a light panic in me.

My demon rolled his eyes, clearly getting what was happening to me.  
"Take the damn curses, for the love of the Turn. They will reset your sexual appetites back to zero." We both watched him as he gave Ivy her bottle.

"Forget it!" She hissed at him, and got glowing eyes right in front of her. One thing you could say about Al, he was good when it came to intimidating people.  
Ivy pressed herself more into my body, almost as if she wanted to go right through me.

Without wanting to, I took a deep breath of her fear, mixed with some longing. Maybe the curse from the bathroom was still affecting her.  
My demon stepped even further into her personal space, which left her sandwiched between us. A shudder went through her and I had to recapture her around the waist to keep her standing.  
"Please, stop," she whispered and it was incredibly sweet to my ears. I would do almost anything to hear more of this voice.

"Take the curse… otherwise I will assume that you long for our touch. And believe me, the actions that would follow this assumption would even strip my father of his self-control. And you're the only woman available beside my mate. Guess who would have to satisfy his neeeeeeeds?" His British accent made the drawl sound even more threatening.

She went limb in my arms. The hormones she kicked off were driving me almost crazy.  
My eyes found Al's. How could he stand this temptation?  
The low grumble he answered me with was answer enough: he wasn't. His fingers opened the bottle and he drank down the curse himself, only to grasp Ivy's chin while he bent down.  
'Bite her!' White hot passion went straight from my brain to all my limps, as my demon flooded my mind with his perverted fantasies.

My fingers found her medium-length hair and pulled, while my mouth closed on her neck. A scream between pain and passion, between terror and desire, floated through the room. Al's lips sealed hers, while his touch moved tickles of line-imbalance over my arm I held Ivy with.

My roommate whimpered and gulped the potion that Al's kiss had transferred to her mouth.  
I really thought we were going to have sex in his kitchen right now. But my male sidestepped the vampire, who tried to follow his lips. But instead of getting a handful of green velvet, she landed on the floor.

The delicious taste of her blood still lingered on my tongue.  
When had I released her neck? When had Al captured me in his arms?  
"The curse," he whispered into my ear.  
His fingers intertwine with mine. I found the bottle he wanted me to take earlier in my hand. Al helped me to free the cork and guided the glass to my lips. His wet and warm tongue drew a route of liquid fire down my neck, slowly making love to the vampire-mark he had given me on our first meeting.  
Whatever he was giving me tasted like rotten eggs, but I downed it like it was candy anyway. The demon using my lust as his choice of weapon probably had something to do with that.

Ivy took hold on my leg and rose to her full height, like a stripper on a pole. She was obviously as far gone as myself.  
"I'm seriously going to regret this." My demon whispered wistfully, his voice husky with need. He reached for a ley-line and mumbered a word of Latin.

I would have expected anything, from being jumped to his bedroom, to being pressed naked against the central fire pit. Anything but the sensation of being dumped into a sea of the coldest ice I'd ever felt!  
All that delicious heat was gone within a second, it left me hollow.

Al stepped back and moved his hand down Ivy's spine. The next spell turned the purple sheets, still covering up Ivy's nakeness, into her black working leathers.

Both of us women needed a few seconds to parse what had happened into something that made some sense. Ivy reeled back, shock making her eyes big as she understood what she had been doing a few seconds ago. Her face reddened while her fingers shifted through her black hair.

I glanced at Al, who looked as fresh as a daisy. Hell, I felt miserable, because of the lust I experienced when he touched me.  
"What happened?" I voiced my confusion, becoming aware of the moistness between my legs. What had aroused me a few moments ago now made me feel sick.  
God, I had had sex with Al, and would have done it again, even with Dali in the same room!  
It sort of made me feel like a drug-addicted kid, because I knew it was bad for me and I couldn't fight it anyway.  
Imagine how bad it felt, to see this now, with a totally clear mind. This was so fucking embarrassing!

"Don't think too much about it. It's a libido-damping curse. It can cool down the desire to have sex, but it only works for a short time. And each use, the duration of its effectiveness becomes shorter until … mh" I couldn't tear my eyes off my demon-teacher and a low growl rose from my throat.  
"You had that stuff and you … you made me fuck you anyway!" Somehow I felt violated in the worst sense of the word.  
"Rachel, you were so hot for a male's touch, I seriously doubt it would have helped in your case. Beside, I would have rather killed any demon near you than give any of them a chance of getting you," he snarled back.

My stomach twisted sideway with fear, as I became aware of the meaning of his words.  
Jenks and Ivy were saying something, probably to me, but my eyes were all for Al. Even with the lust gone he seemed to be the center of my universe.  
'Rachel, you're so screwed.'

Someone coughed aloud, and all heads turned to Dali. He looked as fresh as a daisy too. Well. I guess this curses was common-knowledge.  
"Now after this show is over, let me inform you that the potions are ready to be used. So are the four of you able to do business now?" Color me suspicious, but he sounded irritated. Perhaps he was angry, because his son blown his potential foursome all to hell. A shudder ran through me as I imagined that one's fingers all over me. It was by far worse than the thought about Al's on my skin.  
'Strange,' I whispered to myself. Why was the thought about Al caressing me not as gross as the though of Dali's touch?

Ivy registered that she was clothed properly. Jenks landed on her shoulder, swearing colorful about stupid demons, witches, vampires, instincts, curses and the like. His high voice was starting to give me a light migraine.

"Does someone have a plane for how to invade the vampire's lair?" The blond demon asked, again catching all our attention.  
I looked a bit of dumbfound at him. Plans weren't exactly my cup of coffee. No, plans were the thing Ivy was best at, so my eyes traveled to the still red-faced woman.

"What are you looking at?" she hissed at me, while I crossed my arms over my middle.  
"A plan?" I winked with my hand, trying to ignore the fact that we had almost had sex twice today.  
"Plan?" Her mouth made an O-expression again. I could almost pinpoint the moment her thoughts returned back to their normal patterns.  
The familiar ground gave her the safety she needed to pull herself back together. Seeing Ivy coming up with some plot gave me an island of repose as well.

"We need a splat-gun and paint balls for the potions." I said, this time in direction of my demon. I didn't know where he got them from, but the stuff just appeared out of nowhere beside the stove. Dali looked them over and back at me.

"Are you serious?" His gaze moved to his son, who shrugged at him.  
"They aren't as harmless as they look," was all Al said.  
I almost added that Pierce used my charms for an attempt on Al's life, but somehow I doubted it would do either of them any good, so I ditched the thought right away.  
"Well whatever."

The demon positioned himself on the granite surface around the central-fire pit and leaned his upper-body in direction of Ivy and Jenks, looking like a coconspirator. Ivy hissed at his nearness and Jenks shifted his whole body, like he was readying himself for an ambush.

Al shoved me over in direction of my spells.  
"Fill your spheres, dove. I will keep our ... guests … off each others throats." It sounded almost genial, if you were able to ignore the sarcasm he colored the word 'guests' with.  
I busied myself with the given task, since I knew the night would be over all too soon

"You have a blue-print of Rynn Matthew Cormel's lair?" Dali asked with such interest that it almost made me long to try for another deal, but I had to fill my spheres.  
"As much as I have seen of it, yes." Ivy answered him reluctantly.  
"Where are you hiding it?" A smirk came over his expression. Maybe he was imagining Ivy without her clothes on. It made me angry again.  
Al sat with the three of them, on a new table of light-colored wood.  
"In my mind." The coldness in her voice made clear that she hated Dali with a passion.

"Good, write it down on paper, we'll need it!" Al spoke, as paper and a ball-pen appeared in front of the vampire.

She let her eyes travel from Al to Jenks over Dali to me. I was the only one her gaze lingered on, as if she was asking me for advice.  
Should she really sell her undead master's highest secret to a bunch of demons?  
"He started it! Beside, he can change his lair after tonight," I answered her unvoice question.

Ivy's eyes moved back to the paper, worry clearly visible on her face.  
It was so deeply ingrained in her to protect the head of her Camilla that even with my comment in mind, she had trouble to convince herself of this act's necessity.  
"Ivy, Rache is right." Jenks high voice tried to help out.  
"He'll know that I sold him out." She almost sounded like a little girl.

"Yes, he will. Doesn't that prove he should value you more? And treat you better, since you are able to sell him out?" Al asked. That this wasn't helping matters, never crossed his mind.  
"What if he just kills me?" Again she sounded like little girl. This was something so unlike Ivy that it worried me big-time.

I loaded the new weapon with practiced ease as I moved to the table of the conspirators.  
"This is exactly why I'm going to kick his ass back to the Turn. With your help, of course," I spoke to my business-partners. Jenks was all male pixy with swelled chest and pride. Ivy was touched but still not convinced.

"He doesn't want you dead, Ivy, otherwise you wouldn't have survived this long." Al threw on the table.  
"He wanted me to bind Rachel as my scion… but I failed." Her failure was also weighing her down.

"You would have failed, even if she hadn't been bound to Algaliarept. A demon can't be owned by a vampire. A witch can, because, like the vampires, they have only a part of our genetical heritage." Dali uttered nonchalant, while he played with one of his blond strands.  
Ivy, Jenks and I looked at him like he had lost his mind.

"Dali… uh… I have been bitten by an undead before. Ivy said he didn't… bind me. I mean… We thought it was for lack of trying… but I have never been a full witch… did he try and fail? I mean, is it possible that…?" I was nervous as all hell.  
"You were able to twist our curses, able to hold more line than even a trained elven familiar. And you had enough female demon instincts to goad my son into playing with you." Silence fell over the big room, as we all waited for his answer.

* * *

This is my christmas-present for you. I wanted to up two chapters... but sadly I had no time on my hands I could spare. ^^ Hope you enjoy that peace of work anyway. Have good Christmas and a happy new year ^^.


	33. Father son talk

**A demoness awakens XXXIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Jenks / Ivy / Dali  
**Summary:** Whoever ask himself or herself why Al was going so easy on Rachel since he met her will get the answer from Dali. Because the demon is going to give his son a good piece of his mind ^^.

_There you go. Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXIII: Father-son talk  
**

**- Rachel -**  
"That makes me guess: he failed. I know Al bit you at your first encounter, in the library, as he was impersonating little Miss Fangs there. His saliva contaminated you with enough virus to turn a human. If you had been witch enough to be made into a shadow, you would have ended up as Ivy's right after that event." My heart beat like crazy, my head was dizzy and I couldn't breathe for the panic which was evolving in my brain.

Al pulled me into his arms and lulled me into breathing again. I let him, as well as I didn't withstand the calming influence of his scent.  
"Holy crap, you bastard!" Accusingly the pixy turned to Al and would have attacked if Dali hadn't interfered.

"He was sent to kill the witch, the worst way she could think of. Well, she survived, and if she had been a witch, Piscary would have had control over her through Ivy. Nice plan so far. He knew she was a survivor of the Rosewood Syndrome, but he didn't know that it made her practically kin to demons. Had he known what she was, and what her blood would do to the demon daring to take it, he would have sent a human hit-man to blow her lights out. That's for sure"

My eyes found Al's, while he watched his father with glowing eyes.  
"And what exactly has her blood done to me?" he growled.  
The older demon sighed at him, almost annoyed.  
"You never noticed it? Seriously? Algaliarept, you really are the dumbest demon ever." He waved his hand at my mate's increasingly threatening noise. It made me tremble against him, and somehow I had the urge to calm him down, but how?

"All the loop-holes you opened for her? Giving away circle-less summonings, testifying at the human courts against a vampire you dealt with for over 2000 years? Only so she could become your familiar willingly? Freeing her of that bond after she made you hers? And after Lee brought her right into your arms, you took him instead of her! Do you ever ask yourself why?" His red goat-slitted eyes pierced right through Al's. My demon shut up and his bewildered gaze centered on my face. Again, I lost my will to breathe.

"And then there is the incredible uncommonly stupid decision to let Ceridwen Merriam Dulciate escape with the knowledge of how to spindle ley line energy. You should have known that she would see herself in dept to her savior and teach her." His finger came to rest pointing straight at me.

Al blinked and if I had to take a guess, he didn't know how to react to Dali's scowling either. But his father was far from done.  
"You knew Rachel could twist demon curses, after she made Nicholas Gregory Sparagmos her familiar. You left her with Ceri who had a thousand years of twisting your curses. She knew more secrets about you than anyone, who wasn't family. And you still don't get it, do you?" He made a dismissive gesture at Ivy as she began to say something.

Al's hand was sweaty and it made me wonder about his thoughts, so I tried to spy on him, only to run my mental head against a thick wall. My demon was blocking me out, and that hurt. I felt rejected and extracted myself from his arms. Displeased, I walked over to my friends. I needed all the distance between Al and me I could get at the moment.

A dissatisfied grumble came from Dali.  
"I don't remember raising an idiot!" he snapped at his son. His totally bemused expression shifted to one of anger.  
"You didn't raise me at all; Kila was doing all the work, since you couldn't, thanks to that stupid order of yours!" Oh hell, this sounded like a fucking family crises, a demonic family crises. This couldn't be good. And somehow it worried me that Ivy and Jenks were witnessing it.

"You're still my son, and you were my student for over a thousand years! Gods, what have I done wrong?" he asked, and Dali's melodramatic performance wasn't any less convincing than any of Al's. What was it about demons and drama class anyway?  
"You tasted her blood and felt attracted to her on a level so deep down in your genetic makeup that you would have sold your soul to get her … willingly!" The last word fell a few moments later. It almost shot me through the heart.

_'Willingly, I had come to him willingly? Like hell, I had!'_  
I rethought all what had happened after I met Al. Giving away my most dangerous secret for his summoning-name and the right to summon him without a circle. A thing, Al said, that was only given to the walking dead.  
I gave myself to him as a willing familiar for keeping my soul and his testify in the courts, because I had to put Piscary behind bars.  
Of course, I could have killed the undead, but I hadn't the balls to do him in, it just felt too wrong.

I freed Al from my circle after he tried to hunt me down. Al wanted to pull me into the ever-after, so I might testify that he had this spindling problem under control. Ceri's words about him and his desire for respect and trust were the initiators, for my decision to drop the circle without additional terms. It was a totally irrational act, one what could have cost me life and soul, but I bet my life that he would give me a night of truce if I offered it first.

I had been right about the night, but the next dusk he went after my mother. That was what did it. Furious with anger, I accepted Trents offer to play the part of his ever-after tour-guide and steal an elf sample as well as Al's summoning-name.  
Did I need to mention that it went horribly wrong? With Trent, Al and me, having a nice little sit-in in demon-jail? At least the stealing his name scheme was worked, sadly better than anyone expected? I was summoned out under his name, right into the circle of a coven of black witches. It was a real party to down them all with my sleep-time-potions. The priceless look on their stupid faces as they figured out who had appeared in their circle- the same witch they wanted Al to kill!  
Everything would have ended well, probably, if I hadn't tried to rescue Trent from the ever-after. For this I summoned Al out of his cell, with my demon-name on my lips.

_'Shit!'_  
All blood drained from my face as I noticed that I indeed had given myself to him willingly. At least it must look like that to a demon. I became his student, and it was all my idea. Once a week, 24 hours in Al's kitchen and I had offered it.  
But that wasn't the end of the dance we two seemed to be ensnared in.  
He snatched Pierce out of my line, from my garden, and he used his picking me up as an excuse to fetch the ghost.  
Oh, and I had to go nabbing Pierce back in turn to prove myself to Al. Demands to hold his end of the bargain came over my lips. I told him to never hi-jack people with me ever again, unless he had a proper claim to them.  
Even if I only had done that to save the ghost's ass at the time, I had told Al a different version of it: Something about having earned his respect and insisting that he acknowledge that right here and there.

Al's red eyes found mine. I became aware that I had missed Dali's last few comments while dwelling on my own thoughts. My demon's face was a mix of shock and anger.

"And all that happened just because he drank her blood?" Ivy was kind of pale as well, perhaps thinking about her own attraction to me.  
"Because he drank her blood and made her enjoy it. A female who gets sexually excited kicks out pheromones like crazy. That in turn throws the male into a sort of intoxication to make him forget the risks of mating." Everyone but my demon looked at Dali with horror. Al instead just asked: "And you knew from the start that I was entranced?"

I couldn't imagine how Al must have been feeling right now. For me it was all a new shit-pit of demon-characteristics I didn't know about before. For him it was probably old news. It must be a lot worse for someone who knows all that stuff and still manages to drive himself against a wall at full speed like that.

Dali nodded: "I suspected it."  
Al trembled lightly, which made me worry about his sanity.  
"And you still said nothing?" He almost voiced that without making a sound.  
"It wouldn't have changed anything. That attraction would have lasted until another female gave her blood to you." He shrugged on us.

"There is only Newt left." I interrupted.  
"Precisely, and who of the two would you have chosen?" the older demon asked, and for the time being Al kept quiet. A huge ball of fury and jealousy rose.

"Can't you even say it when the only other choice is NEWT!" I kind of growled. How could that fucking demon be sooo insensible? The guy looked almost like this whole topic was damn uncomfortable for him.

_'Now you know how I'm felling right now, you silly piece of shit!'_  
"I wouldn't have chosen either of you, for fucks sake. Binding or risking my life for sex is not something you do, based on the fact who is the lesser evil!" His long fingers, still without his white gloves went through his hair.

"Correct, and to prevent any stupid ideas, I left you to figure it out yourself. Since you didn't, and the dance of wooing your attraction into mating succeeded, I count you the luckiest demon in the ever-after." His father kind of grinned at him, but still there was a bitter aftertaste in his voice.

"Why the hell are you telling us that now?" I screamed at him. It would have been a lot more comforting not knowing that it had been demon-instincts from the very start.

"Is it possible for… a vampire to… be bound by a demoness' blood, I mean like a male demon can be?" Ivy asked, even whiter around her nose. Her eyes were glued to Dali's lips which made the demon grin at her.  
"Not without some magic attached to it. As there is a curse to make a vampire vulnerable to our pheromones, so exists a curse to bind a vampire by our blood." That was a bombshell which made Ivy even more nervous.

She looked at me and really asked: "You didn't, did you?"  
"No I didn't!" it sounded as angry as I felt.  
"Beside, I didn't even know the spell to do that." Hell, I really longed to kick her up the ass.  
_'Like being a demon wasn't bad enough on its own! No, now my best friend, business-partner, on-and-off bitey has to treat you with distrust, too!'_

Dali laughed at my outburst.  
"Ivy dear, you would know if she had you by the way of blood-binding. It feels like being someone's shadow. Have you ever been someone's shadow?" Jenks interrupted with a whistle of his wings.

"So, does that binding stuff work on the undead?" Good thing that his train of thoughts was able to stop Ivy and me in our tracks. Otherwise this might have gotten even uglier.  
The demon's smirk went even more… evil … for the lag of a better word.  
"Finally, someone who is able to get where I'm aiming at. Yes, it works on the undead too." The courts leader clapped his hands in mock approval.

"Rachel is not going to bind that vampire to her." Al said with menace in his voice, clearly meaning Rynn, since Ivy didn't seem to be a problem for him. I even had the suspicion he would like me binding her with my blood very much. A grin shifted over my face as I became aware of his weakening walls protecting his emotions.  
"He isn't going to drink from you either!" I exclaimed into his direction.

"So who's willing to do it than?" Jenks was a bit confused by our collective grin.

"Easy-peasy. Me," Dali said and grinned at us while everyone gaped.  
"You? What do you want with him?" Ivy and I both asked, suspicious of his motives.  
"Oh, a bit of sex, domination and information. Nothing to worry your little pretty heads over ladies." He really thought he was charming. Maybe he was, in demon-terms, but I certainly wasn't demon enough to feel flattered. No, I thought it was creepy and disgusting.

"I have only to say one word to that plan of yours. And that's NO!" I said, absolute not into all that slavery shit demons usually go for.  
"Do you have a better idea, Rachel Marianna Morgan?" he asked.  
I barred my teeth at him, grasped the unfinished plan, pointed with my finger at the entrance and started talking.

* * *

So finally after the stress of coming back and getting my life back to approximative normal, their is the next installment of my fiction. Hope you will like it.

And for everyone who was waiting for the attack on Rynn shouldn't miss the next chapter. Because it finally is time to kick his ass ^. ^

_A happy new year 2011 for everyone, and I want to thank everyone who helped me with comments, corrections and favs to get that fare ^_


	34. Lair of the Undead

**A demoness awakens XXXIV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / unnamed living vampir 1 / voices from the speakers 1 & 2  
**Summary:** And finally the run against Rynn started after a little pit-stop at Trent's for some suplies. What was first planed as a run of Vampires Charms, ended to be an amusement trip for the demons. Not so amusing after all, because the master-vampire and former world president hadn't survived for that long if his intel has been bad.  
And you know the old saying "A plan regardless how good it might be, never tend to survive the first five minutes of an enemies encounter", do you?

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXIV: _Lair of the Undead_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
We had planned this run for two hours. Ivy had received an earth charm of mine to look and smell like she had been hurt badly. It was either taking my charm, having Al make the injuries real or one of the demons taking her place. The thought of a demon replacing her in this first step of the run, was what did it. That made her actually accept my charm without much additional complaining.

She stood in front of the door knocking against the metal, head down, shoulder hunched.  
Over her, out of eyesight, was Jenks in his black assassin-gear, waiting for whoever would open the door, two paint-ball spheres ready under his arms. I crouched twenty feet away behind a bush, ready to run like hell once Jenks downed the people who were suppose to guard the entrance. The two demons had turned themselves into pixies and looked like they belonged to Jenks' family; they were off to loop the cameras.

Finally the door became unlocked. I stopped breathing, a flash of adrenalin reanimating all parts of my mind.

The door had been opened by a living vampire by the looks of his worried face.  
"Ivy?" His voice buzzed over our intercom system Jenks had picked up on our pit stop at Trent's. She didn't say anything and let the other vampire turn her face up to him.  
"What happened, Rynn was worried sick."

_'Worried sick, my ass.' _

"She… fought me." Her voice sounded heartbreakingly weak, but also colored with anger.  
"Come on in." He said and led her inside, after a quick survey of his surroundings. Good thing I was still too far away, and Jenks was out of eyesight. The vampire never looked up, so he missed the pixy. Instead the young guy turned his back on us, and got the first sleepy-time potion in the back.  
That was my signal to start running, what I did immediately.

A scream over the intercom made clear that something wasn't running according to our plans. Jenks was after Ivy in under a second. I reached the door, but it closed right into my face, which left me separated from my two partners, trapped on the other side.  
"Furry hairballs!" I cursed and tried to open the door. A splash of water could be heard over the intercom. Probably someone was waking up the door's guardian with a bucket of salt-water, which would dissolve the effect of my white earth charm potion.  
_'Shit!'_

"It's an ambush!" an unknown voice uttered, only to be downed screaming. Maybe Ivy had punched him a good one, or Jenks was using his sword. Whatever caused the screaming, I was standing outside the room like the useless guy in a horror movie.

"They know Rachel, they know about our plan!" Jenks said and hissed as if he was evading something or someone.  
"They've got sticky silk all over the place… and weapons… guns. Watch out, Ivy!" A loud bang made me deaf for seconds. Someone had just fired a gun.

Seconds ticked by in which I stopped breathing, waiting for either Jenks or Ivy to tell me what had just happened.  
How could that cheep bastard know about us, anyway? Had he talked to Trent lately? Had the elf ratted us out? Oh, if I found out he was responsible for this event and someone of mine got hurt… he would be sorry.

_'What's happening?'_ Al's voice reached my mind, becoming aware of my mental uproar.  
_'They know about the plan.'_ I answered with a growl, as a pained sound of Ivy reached my ears. Fuck, Ivy… I had to get into this freaking room. No matter the cost. Maybe I should jump right into the action, but then they would know I was able to pull that demonic stunt on them, which of course wouldn't be good for me. It was better to save this ability for later.

"Ivy is up against an undead… damn fucker is fast!" Jenks gave me the update my soul was longing for. His wings were picking up speed, certainly thinking furiously about an action what would save Ivy's ass.  
The woman was good, but she wasn't a match for the undead.  
Jenks swore angrily because he knew he could only buy her some time.

They needed me. And I was staring at that damn metal-door. My eyes shifted over the façade of the building, searching for a window. It took me about a second to find one. Sadly, it was pretty small, and maybe belonging to a restroom, but it was better than nothing.

_'Use the damn door! The window is too small! Beside, they will expect that of you. Plus, you may come too late to save that vampire of yours. As I said before your plan is worth nothing. Stop playing witch and blast that thing into their faces!'_ Again it was the voice of my demon, right before he started swearing about some sticky silk in his wings.

"Fuck!" I snarled with anger at the innocent piece of matter between me and my friends.  
I wanted to scream at Al, that I was a witch. Wanted to make myself clear that even with my demon genetics I would stick to my witchiness, but the second scream of Ivy sounded like too much pain and despair. She cried out for help!

_'I really hate my fucking life!'_ I growled in my thoughts and opened my mind to the next ley-line. Power flowed through me, faster and faster. How was it possible that each time I touched a line, the adjustments of power became quicker? Shouldn't there be a limit to it?

Knowledge how to use all the force came unbidden, but I used it nevertheless. With all my strength I kicked furiously at the door, line-energy followed my movement.  
I almost expected to have a hurting knee or foot, but the energy took all the impact as it connected with the metal. Staggering at the sudden absence of ley-line-power I watched the door flythrough the room. It vanished halfway into the wall. I gulped: "Wow…"

The room fell silent at that display of uncalled-for strength and all eyes found me. Ivy was the first to snap out off her confusion and used the distraction of her combatant to kick him right were it counted.  
The man went down whimpering and holding his jewels, while my roommate picked up a chair and smashed it into him a few times. Wood went flying everywhere.

Suddenly the room came back to life. A flash of light caught my attention. I turned to my right while the time slowed down into this strange matrix-like state demon vision seemed to enter when danger was close.

"Rache!" Jenks' voice tried to warn me, but I was way ahead of him as I shot the vampire who was going for my throat right between the eyes.  
Another enemy dropped to the floor.

"Jenks!" I screamed, while Ivy kicked shut the door to the stairway that the second vampire had come through. She used her strength and speed to block it with a heavy desk. My eyes found Jenks, trapped in some sticky silk, hanging middle-air like he was frozen in time.  
He was swearing like a tar, and beating against that sticky twines. Without some help he would be trapped for minutes or even hours.

My fingers found his feet first, so he had solid ground to stand on while I tried to get him free of the trap. Ivy explored the room and covered our backs.  
"Damn, how could they have known?" he asked.  
"Probably Trent had played chatterbox." Ivy answered with ire in her voice, black eyes centering on mine.

She was right, this time it really looked like Trent had betrayed my trust. I absolutely didn't want to know what Al would make out of this situation, if Trent was the culprit behind the scene. His only chance of survival might be to beg my demon to finally fill in as my real familiar … and color me suspicious, but I knew the man good enough to know he wouldn't.

"I told you a thousand times you should have left him to rot in the ever-after." our little warrior complained.  
"Oh, if he is behind this… " My eyes went over the room, so I hadn't to face anyone.  
They came to rest on something that looked suspicious like a webcam. Well, just great!  
"… he will." I was dead serious about it. If Trent really was screwing my ass over like that, after I trusted him with my life, I was going to freaking make his worst nightmare come true. It was maybe the only chance to keep him among the living anyway.

Sensations of Trent's baby-fine hair under my fingers and a powerful surge of arousal came over me as my mind imagined how it would feel to possess the strong elf politician who had been my enemy since I started my runner business. A low moan came over my lips before Ivy touched my shoulder in worry.

"Is everything all right?" My first impulse was to say 'no', the second was to say 'yes' and as I finally settled to say 'I don't know anymore', a new voice interrupted me.  
"The I.S. has been informed of your intrusion."  
"Fuck…" This adventure was falling out of the frying fan into the fire.

If anyone working for the I.S saw my eyes, all the big plans about my reintegration into society fly right out the window. It might be so anyway. If Trent had anything to do with the failure of my plan, I couldn't trust him with my genes anymore.

Angry with the whole situation I started screaming.  
"You fucking piece of vampire-shit, get your cowardly little ass out of your lair, I have a bone to pick with you!" My outburst was, of course, met by silence. Fuming with anger I prepared for another insulting tirade, only to end up on the floor rolling behind a corner for cover.

"Guns." Ivy whispered and took position to my right, holding a weapon on her own.  
"Where did you…" I trailed off as Jenks pointed to the guy I had downed with one of my potion.  
"This isn't working." My roommate told me, like I had no eyes of my own.  
"But you can't just shoot them." I complained.

"Well the I.S. is going to be here in a few moments, so we either have to run or fight." the pixy said beside my ear, where he'd settled himself. All that damn silk on his wings still made it impossible for him to fly. The pixy was tugging at the sticky stuff and made slow but steady progress clearing it off his wings.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck…" I growled.

Another voice cried through the speakers, this time filled with panic  
"Watch her demon!" The transmission ended with a wet sound that was able to turn my stomach upside down.  
I didn't need to ask what was going on, for all the furious rage what echoed through my mind, but I did it anyway.

_'What the hell are you doing, Al?' _  
_'Your attempt to keep everyone alive is going to kill you. Hate me all you want later, I will make sure you survive this evening!'_ The connection went mute, but was still present.  
"Damn it all back to the Turn." I wailed. Of course, between Trent and Al, there was no possible way people wouldn't be turning up dead.

"What now?" Ivy asked, pretty nervous, a fact I was able to taste in the air, which I would worry about later.

"Cormel! Listen, Al is going to turn your house upside down if you don't give up and let me talk to you!" Another howl of total fear came over another speaker.  
Excitement and arousal centered inside of me. Part of it was Al's, but even worse was the dark satisfaction I sensed dwelling inside of me as I imagined my enemies dying by his hands.  
Damn demon instinct. If I continued that way I was going to end up as crazy as Newt or even worse.

The vampire-master didn't answer. Why should he, when it was his men dying and not him? My eyes went to Ivy.  
"Where to?" I asked. She pointed at the general direction of the door. The door between us and his inner sanctum was the reason why we decided to make Ivy into some sort of a Trojan horse. It was thick like a vault's door, with a numeric pad for the security-code.

"Damn, how do we pass that?" I asked, while Ivy grinned and raised a card.  
"This is the card you need," she said as Jenks flew over to the pad. He was finally free of the sticky silk.

"I'm going to enter the code." The pixy said and went to work. His movements, fast with practiced ease, became a blur before my eyes. How my demon-vision worked witch-slow one second and vampire-fast the next was beyond me. Another good question to ask my teacher!

The blond pixy continued messing with the wires of the numeric-pad while Ivy and I walked over to him. Caution made us slow, since we checked the room for other attackers, traps or weapons.

A light buzz made him reel back as a voltage zapped across the surface.  
"What the hell." The pixy voiced some blasphemous swearing again, and landed on my outstretched hand.

Ivy moved in front of the pad and started glaring holes into the surface. Needless to say, it wasn't affecting the damn thing at all.  
A few seconds ticked by in silent, and Ivy lost her patient. Maybe she didn't want to destroy things belonging to her master, but she drew the stolen weapon and aimed it at the pad anyway.  
I seriously doubted that a few additional holes would help matters, but if every other action failed I could always use one of the demon-curses to blast the door. Or the wall. Whichever gave way first.

Surprisingly, the light switched from red to green, without anyone of us moving. I watched Ivy frown at it as the door opened smoothly.  
"What have you done, Jenks?" she questioned him.  
Jenks answered her with a shrug as he said: "It wasn't me."

Maybe it had been Al or Dali, but I refused to enter into a deeper connection with my bloodthirsty one. I didn't need his fantasies in my head.  
_'Take it as it is, ask questions later'_

"Let's go!" I uttered, still angry and confused. Maybe it was a trap and we were walking right into it. But if worst came to worst I could still jump us out of here.  
Believe it our not, sometimes being able to do some demon-magic had its benefits.  
Jenks rose from my hand, drawing his blade against the sticky silk, and was through the door first to make sure we weren't running into our funerals.

"The card wasn't in the slit." the vampire uttered, quiet and wary.  
"Maybe Jenks blow the fuse, who knows? Is everything okay down there?" The last was meant for Jenks, and he voiced a low agreement.

I took the second position while Ivy took the rear. She was right behind me after pausing to shoot the offending pad: "I don't want our escape route cut off."

No one bothered us until we came to the stairway. One stair led up, the other down.  
I was about to ask where we would find Cormel, when something round fell in front of us. Ivy moved with her eerie vampire speed and kicked it down the corridor. A loud explosion of light and sound made me dizzy for seconds. Good thing Ivy was as fast as she was.  
I really didn't want to know what might have happened to us otherwise.

"Jenks?" Worry made my pulse jump. If he was anywhere next to that explosion, our team would be short one member.  
His wings sounded fare away as he asked what the hell had just happened.  
A feminine finger touched my lips, as I prepared to answer his question.  
Ivy looked down over the stair-rail and pointed into the darkness my eyes weren't able to pierce. Another good issue to clear with Al. Was it only the eyes of the male demons that were able to look through utter blackness, or was there a curse to manage that trick? If there was, I wanted him to teach it to me.

I moved to Ivy's back to cover her inspection. And not a single second too soon, since a low hiss was my only warning before something from the left moved toward me.  
Pure instinct and hours of hard-won practice obtained by fighting Ivy let me plug the attacker with a charm before he reached me.  
Another vampire jumped Ivy from above while I was evading the falling body of the first.

Ivy and the black leather-clad chick rolled over the floor with the strange woman winning the top position. Long wavy auburn hair went flying as the predator hissed down on my roommate. I was debating with myself whether to make her my next target, when a loud shot echoed from the walls. Our enemy wailed aloud with pain as she reeled back from Ivy, growling in anger.

My business-partner was holding the pistol as she sat up, and aimed at her again.  
Next thing I knew, strong arms were around my throat, holding me against the chest of Miss-Wounded. Hell, I hadn't even seen her move, she was that fast.

"What…?" My vampire-mark flared alive with the pheromones she was kicking off.  
They filled the air around me, invading my senses and turned my knees to jelly. A totally normal reaction, when you had an unclaimed vampire bit paired up with a hungry or angry vampire. One that made sure the prey stayed the prey and would enjoy it.  
_'Fuck an undead… damn I'm so dead!' _

"So, our dear Ivy failed to turn you into a shadow. Maybe I should try. I promise you, you will enjoy my attention." I knew exactly what she wanted, and I knew from Ivy's bites that it would feel like total bliss to give in to the temptation.  
But damn it all back to the Turn, even if Dali said vampires, living or undead, weren't able to bind a demon, I sure as hell didn't want her drinking my blood.

Her smell turned from seducing to disgusting in the time I needed to blink. And it awoke the piece inside of me which I began to call my inner demon. A growl rose from my throat, dark and intimidating, a promise of death and pain. It made her hesitate, while I opened myself to my inner demon even more, the promise of protection and power too strong for my will to withstand its pull. Fingers found her arm and with all the strength my muscles gave me I seized her arm, boring my fingernails into her flesh. She screamed.

Warmness flowed over my fingertips and rushed down to the floor. The scent of fresh blood sent a chill through me which was nearly orgasmic. Time slowed down while I ripped at the wound to inflict more damage. I wanted MORE! More blood, more pain, more fear.  
_'Gods help me, I'm losing myself!' _

"What…?" The undead almost cried in utter bewilderment. Who the hell would expect the prey to turn on them?

Ivy, though, looked pretty shocked.  
"Rachel?" She took a few steps into my direction, and my eyes found her gaze.  
The panic and worry in her face, coupled with her familiar scent, enabled me to fight down the urge to rip Miss Leather into tiny bloody pieces.  
Hell, I was going to be sick! I felt like a fucking psychopath. The vampire in my arms tried to free herself, and I shoved her away from me before my instincts could return.  
With my perception of time still slower than normal, I turned around and used all my speed and strength to deliver a nice round-house kick into her face.  
She fell down a few stairs and stayed there on the floor, motionless. Time returned back to normal. The set of good questions about demon nature were becoming endless.

Ivy was almost asking me with her eyes if it was okay to touch me. As she saw no sign of rejection in my body language, she laid a hand on my shoulder.  
"You okay?" She asked warily, which made her voice sound weaker than normal.  
"Hell no… I'm not. That is fucking creepy." I shuddered slightly as Jenks landed on Ivy's shoulder.

"Up or down?" Jenks queried with his voice a bit too high. He had witnessed me losing it. And they were treating it like a loss of control from Ivy. Don't mention it, behave like nothing had happened.  
It felt so strange to be on the receiving end of this custom.

"Can't you sense him, Ivy?" My voice still sounded way darker than it should have, but at least it wasn't liquid darkness anymore.  
Black hair went flying as she confirmed that it wasn't working like that. Maybe the master was able to sense her, but not the other way around. I hissed in anger.

"Then we'll go downstairs." It was the best guess we had. The undead weren't able to stand daylight, much less the sun, so downstairs was a sure bet one and a half hours before the arrival of dawn.

Ivy and Jenks nodded because the logic sounded valid. So we started descending the stair, my dropped weapon safe in my hands again.  
A few moments passed in peace as we walked in silence, and than a low pulling sensation hit me in the gut. Damn it all back to the Turn, it couldn't be.

Jenks turned his head to face me.  
"What the fuck?" he exclaimed, while Ivy tried to take the front and the rear at the same time, so Jenks could talk to me without having to worry about an ambush.

"Don't know." My answer sounded weak as I lied. I knew exactly what it felt like. It was almost the same sensation you got then someone tried to summon you.  
_'Fucking hell on a cracker! NO!' _  
"Is she being summoned?" my roommate whispered worriedly to no one in particular.

I gasped for air. It couldn't be, not at a time like this! All my friends were with me, and my mother wouldn't use my demon name to contact me. No one else knew it, save Al and Ceri.  
Ceri wouldn't summon me without good cause, and she knew I was at Cormel's. I didn't think she would risk my or Al's wrath just for the hell of it. And Al wouldn't summon me without giving me a warning first.

"Al…" I whispered as the pulling sensation got worse. Yes it was a summoning, that was for sure. Totally busy with freaking out I reached for my demon's mind, half senseless with fear as I felt him answering my call. The pull was starting to seriously hurt me.  
_'Fuck.'_ Tears were beginning to fall down my cheek.

* * *

First part of the fight against the undead, finally. Kept you waiting for long enough ^^. Hope you liked it as much as I.


	35. Summons circles and hostages

**A demoness awakens XXXV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / Al / Cormel / I.S officers  
**Summary:** Rachel feels the pull of a summoning, and the shit just hit the fan. Her run into Cormel's lair had been a catastrope from the very beginning... but insteat of taking control back, it gets worse and worse. So who is the idiot summoning her, and what will she do to that person?

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXV: _Summons, circles and hostages_**__

**- Rachel -**_  
'Someone is summoning me,'_ he answered, and his fury managed to be even darker than the touch of the demon-database.  
_'No … what about us?'_ I was half relieved that it wasn't someone using my name, but losing Al's support on the run wasn't going to be a good sign. Who the hell was summoning him? I itched to know, itched to kick his ass.

Jenks was pulling on my hair, obvious he had been trying get my attention for a while.  
Al vanished from my perception and the agony of deprivation made me scream. I blinked wildly as the real world snapped back into focus.  
My pixy-backup was fighting against three fairy-assassins, while Ivy pushed a living vampire into an undead one.

"What the hell has gotten into you!" She shouted furiously at me. Another vampire came right at me, a sword glittering in his hand.

_'Oh, this is soooo not good.'_ A deathly strike cut through the air.  
Good thing years of matrial arts training enabled me to elude the blow. I rolled to the right, and almost fell down the stairs while doing so. The vampire jerked his sword out of the wooden stairs and started to attack again.  
I debated with myself whether it would be better to raise a circle or throw a white charm at him.  
_'Maybe I should simply use a demon-curse.'_ I thought, and was shocked me down to the bone that I was even thinking about it.

To start an inner discussion in a situation like that was one of the dumbest things I had ever done. And if it hadn't been for the sword-wielding shadow that had jumped over my rolling body I would have been dead.  
The undead, though, was not so lucky. His body lay motionless, beheaded in his own innards on the floor. Blood was everywhere and the shadow proved to be a man with two black katanas in his hands.

Slowly he took the few remaining steps to stand on the platform of the corridor. Fighting to his left and right, a few words of Latin made visible by a flash of light, expanded from him.  
The smell of burnt amber hit me hard as I managed to rise to my feet.  
"They summoned Al, and used his missing support to ambush you." I knew his voice, but the demon was working faster than my memory.

Dali turned around and smiled at me. Ivy and Jenks appeared right next to him.  
"Your target is upstairs, fifth door to the left." With these words he vanished in a cloud of ever-after, together with his katanas. He left a displeased aftertaste in the air that was most probably the smell of too much blood and flesh.

_'I'm going to be sick!'_ My feet moved me over to my friends. Both of them were eyeing over the hallway and I gulped.  
It took a every ounce of will to NOT look at the bloody mess Dali had left behind.  
_'I'm so going to get blamed for this.'_ The realization was almost making me cry.

"Good thing he is on our side… " Jenks pointed out.  
"Demons only know one side… their own." I would be damned before I believed Dali had done this out of his heartwarming nature.  
A new wave of vertigo hit me squarely over the head and Ivy had to keep me upright.

"Rachel, what…?" she snarled at no one in particular.

Al was back and he was a force of pure cold anger. Whoever had been stupid enough to summon him was dead meat that much was for sure.  
_'Not more death people… please,'_ the front of my rational mind complained, while the back of it urged me to jump after Al.  
_'I have to free my demon!'_

But I couldn't leave my friends to fight on their own in Cormel's lair, with undead vampirs, fairies and whatever else was lurking in the shadows.  
"Come." My voice sounded darker than normal, and my mood was worsening with each seconds passing. Al's own sable temper wasn't helping matters either.  
I wanted to kick someone's ass hard enough to make them eat my toenails.

Not caring what awaited us on the next floor, I moved up the stairs. I dared someone to stand in my way. Oh, I almost pleaded the world to give me an opponent.  
"Her aura flashed black," the little man whispered into Ivy's ear, but his comment wasn't lost to me.

"Someone just took my demon! And … that mess down there… guess who is going to get blamed for it!" If the first wasn't a sufficient enough explanation, the last definitely did the job. Neither of them asked why I had started to growl slightly.  
Even with my roommates' lifes on the line, it cost me a lot of effort to repress the urge to follow Al.

I felt a drop in the line as a spell was made real, but with all their quickness, I was still faster. The charm only hit the sheet of ever-after that enclosed me and my friends.  
"So, they have witches as well." I was so not impressed or even surprised!

Jenks buzzed a warning beside my ear as they began to address me.  
"Rachel Morgan you are arrested for intrusion, assult and murder." This must have been my lucky day- three I.S officers stood in the hallway, blocking our paths.

Knowledge of Al's whereabouts unveiled in my mind, and this one was sort of a surprise.  
He was further down the hallway, in the same house we were in, fifth door to the left, and furious as all hell.

_'Cormel has summoned Al?'_ Of course, he had. He was a master vampire and all master-vampires seemed to know MY demon's name. Al was sort of a school-slut painting his phone number all over the walls of the mens-room. He was so going to do something about that.

My best guess was that Cormel wanted to forge a deal with him, which would end with me dead on the floor. It wouldn't be the first master-vampire to try that particular trick.  
And he wouldn't be the first to fail. If he really thought my demon would kill me because his cheap fuckness ordered him, he was dead ass wrong.

"I really don't have any time for this. Move out of my way or face the consequences!" I snarled at the witches. The appearance of my demon in Cormel's circle demoted the I.S. officers from a first-grade big ass problem to a third-rated irritating one.  
They were no matches for my anger.

I wanted my fingers around Cormel's throat, his blood on the floor, his screams in my ear, I wanted to smash his face into a wall, to rip out his entrails, to glut him with ever-after until he disintegrate into ashes, and all that for the sheer THOUGHT of trapping MY demon in a circle. MY demon wasn't HIS for the taking. And he would learn it, the hard way! Taught by my hands!

My thoughts notwithstanding the officers still needed my attention.  
"Rachel Morgan, take down your circle," one of the officers said, and it made me laugh, kind of hysteric and truly sadistic.  
_'What do they think will happen after I drop my circle? Do they really expect me to yield before them? Not a chance in a lifetime.'_

"Make me." My tongue slipped out to wet my lips. Ivy touched my arm and whispered, "Don't do this. Please, Rachel, snap out of it."

Her touch, her voice, scent and aura which were so familiar to me, gave me a weapon to fight down the all consuming fires of rage my inner demon was arousing within my very soul.  
"They are standing between my demon and me." My voice was still liquid darkness, sensual and sweet like forbidden candy, but it also sounded kind of complaining and innocent.  
"Al is in this house?" She asked lowly, with a spike of fear in her voice.

"I don't like the sound of that!" Jenks buzzed right between us.

"Wait … her demon?" The youngest of the officers wailed in terror. My gaze focused on him. Even through the smocked glasses I had borrowed from Algaliarept, he seemed to be able to feel my attention.

"Do you ever read any of your papers, Carlson?" the earth-witch to his left asked him with total distress.  
The oldest of the witches snatched the youngest and whispered something in his ear. A moment later Jenks translated so I would know what they were up to.

"They want to trap us in a circle." I had been able to hold myself together against my inner demon just fine, but with the strap of fear that went straight to my core, my control dissolved fast again. They wanted to cut me lose from my mate. I wouldn't let them. I would kill everything in this god-forsaken house… hell in this freaking city first.

Ivy's grip on my arm went harder, almost painful as Jenks pulled at my earlobe. Both of them kept me grounded so I wouldn't run amok. It seemed they had seen enough of me turning demon, to know how close to a total blackout I really was.  
"Keep it together, Rache," Jenks whispered and the beat of his wings gave me something to concentrate on beside my speeding pulse.  
"You're not alone, we are with you!" Ivy encouraged Jenks assistances. It helped.

The officers were totally oblivious to how close to a mortal peril they currently stood.  
And so they started to spread out around us in a circle-like pattern. A chant-like stream of Latin rose from them. My fear went worse, my control slipped from me again.  
I was half-way trapped in the darkness of the demon-database, the other half of me was paralyzed by the fear of what might happen if they managed to circle me.

"Rache! Take the greenhorn over there hostage, we will down the other two!" Jenks offered me a way out that wouldn't end with a thousands corpses on my conscience.

Surprissingly, the idea of my business-partner found a willing supporter in form of my inner demon. She indeed liked the idea and my head tilted slightly to the right as we started to work together. The glasses of my mate slid down my nose, which bared my goat-slitted eyes to their youngest team-member. The only thing we needed now was for him to look in my direction. Lucky me, he was looking already.

His chant was aborted abruptly and his eyes went wide. I had just given away my back-to-society-pass, unless they either went missing or forgot the whole fiasco. Both of which were unlikely to happen, if I had any say in it.

Carlson started screaming in terror and reeled back, colliding with the wall and prepared to make a run for it. The pausing of his chant had stopped the other witches as well, but his scream brought them back alive.  
It was to late anyway, I dropped my circle and crossed the hallway in five quick strides.

Fingers found the witches wrist and I jerked him around. I smashed him into the wall first, before I grasped him by his throat and put my own back against the brick wall.

Jenks attacked the wand-wielding officer with his sword and dust while Ivy was on the other one in seconds.  
Her eyes were black from the fear which suddenly swept through the room.

"She … she is… a demon!" The youngest one stammered, and I was pretty sure he would have screamed those words if he hadn't been paralyzed by his own terror.

Jenks was a black sun of revenge. His witch went down screaming in a heap while holding one of his eyes. It bled badly. Jenks had blinded him with his sword, probably aimed for a lobotomy.  
"Think twice before using that stuff on a pixy you piece of fairy crap!"

My attention went back to Ivy. She had pinned the fighting ley-line witch against a wall and hissed at him to hold still.  
The problem wasn't the witch who tried to get enough air and line-force to repel her, but her own instincts. His fear and struggling pushed all the buttons she had, goading her into biting him. So my roommate was frighting her own instincts more when the witch.

A deep growl fell from my lips, while I seized my own prey even harder by his throat. Hell, his fear was like an aphrodisiac- it made me hot all over and I wanted more.  
Another strange feeling made me look up, and I saw the wand-wielding witch raising his weapon to aim it at Ivy.

"You throw that ball of shit at my friends and I swear you will find yourself on the surface of the ever-after." I uttered into his direction.  
_'Damn, I really start to sound like Al.'_ But if my threat would keep my friends safe, I was willing to play the demon-card.

Ivy's eyes, black as the starless sky, found mine, almost asking for help with her instincts. Like I was of any help right now, but maybe helping her was what I needed to remind myself that I was Rachel Morgan, the white witch of Vampiric Charms, and not a half insane demoness on a rampage.  
"Let go of him." My voice was a considerable amound softer as I suggested it to her.  
It had worked a few times before.

Slowly she let go of his neck and brought distance between herself and anyone in the corridor.  
The saved officer raised his head and looked at me, hatred all over his face, a bigot stare I had seen more than once. That Ivy still had herself under control, gave me the means to fight my own instincts harder.

Carlson shifted in my grip and tried to free himself. The guy was either totally stupid or suicidal. If a predator like a vampire… or a demon for that matter … is trying to fight off his own instinct, you don't fucking move.  
I voiced a low disagreeing grumble against the skin of his neck.  
This time he got that moving was a bad idea. Instead, he went taut in my embrace… which, of course, wasn't much better either.

"Get lost! I have your youngest team-member and I will keep him until we are safe. If you cross us I swear by everything that's holy I will give him to Al." Good thing it sounded part demon, and part my own panic. Maybe the officers would get that I didn't want to do it, but would do it anyway, if I got desperated enough.

"You would give one of your own to a demon." Vampire-victim moved over to pixy-prey and helped him to his feet.

"The witches called me a demon, they put me in Alcatraz, they tried to neuter me, and they tried to kill me. Do you have any idea how it feels to always play nice and receive kick after kick up your ass? I'm so freaking DONE with playing nice!" It was like some dark velvet was stroking all the hurt part of my soul; it cost me dearly to acknowledge it, but the witches were no longer my own.  
I was a demon, full grown with green slitted eyes and all the other backage attacted. It was time to live the part, and find a way to fuse the person I wanted to be and the person I was into one and the same being.

"Get your asses out of here." My eyes centered on my partners enemies.  
"Unless, you want me to do it for you." A smirk which I was sure could rival one off Al's moved over my lips.

"Oh God, oh God… please don't leave me with her." Carlson cried.  
The only reaction of his colleagues was an apologetically look at him.

"Do you want me to send them off to the ever-after, dear?" My nose moved next to his ear and I took a deep breath of his scent. Redwood and fear, the aroma of aftershave mixed in with shampoo. My actual intent in doing so was to make him believe that I was predator enough to live up to my threat, but the amplified emotion of panic sent me deeper into that mood, deeper than I ever had intended to be.  
"It wouldn't buy your freedom though." I whispered while I bit his earlobe, desperately wishing for my demon to do the same to me.

"Please…" He fought me, and my hand trapped his hair to bend his head to the side. A vein pulsed there with an alluring speed that promised so much delicious blood.  
One of the officeres made a shocked noice and broke my fixation on my prey.

"Decide," I hissed in their direction while baring some teeth. The officer with the bleeding eye was down the stair in under a second, almost dragging his co-worker after him.  
That left us alone with only one witch.

"You're going to tell us everything!" Jenks ordered the man, almost hovering on eye level, sword in his hand. I was glad for the pixies existence, since his threatening voice gave me a thing to focus on beside the trembling witch, who still smelled really tempting.

"I… know nothing." Carlson stammered and I was finally able to make a decision. I shoved him from me wildly with a little too much force, and he connected hard with the wall. The witch went down and stayed on the floor.

"Ivy…" I whispered in panic. Unsteady on my feet, I hugged the wall opposite the witch. I needed distance, I needed calm… I needed another scent to get rid of this instinct. Ivy moved next to me and waited for whatever I might ask of her. Without a word I approached her, my arms went around her middle and then I drew her scent to me.  
She stared down at me in complete surprise, but she made no move to pull away.

"We have… got to find Al… I'm losing it. Do… you have enough control, to…" I pointed at the witch. Ivy's eyes followed my index-finger and examined the officer with cold calculation.  
"He reeks of fear and he is bleeding." Her voice sounded bar of any feelings but her taut body gave her longings away.  
_'Do not think about that, Rachel!'_ I tried to untangle myself from those thoughts, without much success.

The I.S. officer was almost senseless with fear, probably because he finally grasped how much trouble he was really in. What saved us all from the trouble of further escalations was a second set of thoughts in my own.

_'Forget it! You have nothing you could give me worth enough to pay for what you're asking of me.'_ Al's voice sounded level and emotionless but I was able to feel all the consuming fire of his rage.

_'Demon, I demand it.'_ Cormel's melodic politican voice echoed through my mind. It was almost like being in the same room with them.

"Rachel?" Jenks asked, which snapped me out off it.  
"Damn my dame." I cursed and grasped the witch with the bleeding bump on his head off the floor. His fear suddenly had become totally insignificant to me.

"Rachel, wait!" Jenks yelled after me while I began to run down the hallway. Trap or not was not important either. The only thing that counted was getting back what was mine. That I had dragged a screaming and fighting witch down the corridor like he weighed nothing completely escaped my notice.

Al's heavy precence loomed behind the door, and before my two roommated had time to do anything about it, I was within the line, gesturing wildly to give the magic substance.

"Do something Ivy; she is going to kill us all!" our pixy-backup complained in his high and rapid voice as I flunged the door open with a demon curse.  
Wood exploded into the room with a loud detonation. I was half-way in the room before a strong hand pulled me back and pressed me against the wall.  
A howl of rage and longing came from me. I sounded almost like a wounded animal and I would have attacked Ivy right then, if a flash ofcolorful magic hadn't hit the wall opposite the door.

The second in which the spell hit the wallpaper it burst into flames. Good thing Ivy had spared me that experience by pulling me back, the wall looked rather unhealthy.  
"Shit," Ivy whispered, as she saw the damage.

Anger grew more potent in me and I extracted myself out of her arms, the officer now held as a lifing shield between me and any other attack that might be flung at me.  
I entered the room, Jenks followed cursing loud and badly, while Ivy drew her weapon and followed me with silent anger.  
My eyes surveyed the room, searching for Cormel and Al and ignoring everyone else.

Al's red goat-slited eyes found mine I paused in my rage. Jenks screamed something what was lost to the tumult around us. A sheet of green tinted ever-after rose…

…rose around me! I was trapped!

"Oh, nooooo…!" My demon, still inside his hown summoning circle, growled with annoyance and banged his head against the barrier in frustration.

* * *

Second part of their fight against Cormel. And a demon summoning in the way. Witness how it goes down the drain ^^.


	36. Bad orders the second

**A demoness awakens XXXVI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / Al / Cormel / Miss Black / Tilly / Scarface  
**Summary:** Two demons trapped in two circles. What will happen to Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and Al now? Their enemy holds all the strings in his hand... what is going to be his first order, and what the hell does Cormel want?

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXVI: _Bad order the second_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
"Splendid! Welcome to my lair, Rachel Marianna Morgan. Ivy." Cormel was in one of his gray suits, surrounded by a few vampires and a small group of dangerous-looking witches.  
One of them looked familiar, even if I couldn't place his face.

"So, since you refused to do your summoner's bidding, Algaliarept, we will have her do it," Dark-scarface said. He was the one of the group beside Cormel I have already seen somewhere before. I still couldn't place him, but his voice made me shiver.  
The witch-officer in my grip started crying, which made me snarl at him.

"Name?" A woman entirely clothed in black came to the bubble of ever-after which trapped my friends and me.  
"Rachel Morgan." I answered a bit bemused.  
"Not that one, the other one, the demon name." She made a gesture with her hand and walked around to take a good look at me. I stared back nonplussed. A few moments of utter silence ticked by. Even Al didn't move.  
"Give me your summoning name!" she hissed, in a way humans and witches weren't able to.

_'Be careful- the woman is a banshee,'_ my demons voice informed me; it sent a flash of fear through me while I faced her.

"I will not give you my name." I tried to use my birth-name again, but it wouldn't leave my lips. So I was bound by summoning-terms. My eyes went over to Al, worry settling deep inside of me.

"See I told you so!" Jenks whispered so only Ivy and I could hear it.

"You have to. We trapped you in a circle. Tilly, ask her!" The banshee turned around to a little woman who was slightly overweight and placed herself behind the witch.

"What is your summoning-name, demon?" Tilly's voice was wary and high, but strong all the same. I faced her and took off my smoked glasses, while the humming of the barrier amplified around me. The room hissed at the display of my eyes. Al was banging his fist against his own bubble. His feelings were a ball of frustration and anger.

"I'm not giving you my name." I repeated absolutely serenely, though panic was eating at the very substance of my soul.  
"In exchange for mine?" She wasn't giving up. The witch offered some information to make me reconsider giving my name to her. That wasn't going to happen. I liked my name, especially because I knew who had it. If I had liked the whole being summoned business I could have kept Al's name.

"You don't have a summoning-name." My answer could only be described as condesending  
"I will give you my full name for your summoning name." Light tickles of impatience ran through her voice, which pleased my like nothing else.

I shifted my position, still holding the officer like he was some sort of baggage.  
"Why should I want your name? You don't owe me anything." Again I made it sound as condescending as possible. Al, right beside her, ceased his outbursts at the sound of my dry voice.

"A mark? Al right, go in there and kill that demon." She pointed at Al.  
Shock colored my face white and I turned. The humming of the barrier amplified again; maybe it was the same order he had been given. Jenks whispered a low "Shit" while Ivy edged away to the other end of the circle, maybe to distance herself from the fear which drifted off of me.

Gaze shifting back to the little fat woman I winked dismissively with my hand.  
"Not happening. You have nothing, not even all your souls together, what would be worth such a deed." The officer winced as I uttered that and tried to free himself again, getting ignored in turn.

It was obvious that Tilly was at the end of her Latin, so she turned around to her banshee mistress and Cormel, as if waiting their advice.

"Rachel Marianna Morgan, kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood." Cormel said with his cold undead voice. He looked totally different than the one time I had met him in my church.

The vampire drew a deep breath, almost as loudly as I. My glance flew to her and then back to Cormel. His suggestion had both thrown me deeper into my old witchy self, and also deeper into my demon-mood. Both of my alternate personalities had the same issue here.

"Not happening, either. She's already mine. Why would I kill something of mine, for you?" My voice was sort of liquid darkness again. The witch at my feet wailed aloud in agony as the blackness of the demon-database touched his aura

"Will you shut up?" my inner demon hissed at him, irritated by his whining. Of course my attitude only made his panic even worse.

"Well, whatever, we have two demons here." The master-vampire made a throw away gesture with his hand, while he turned his attention back to Al.  
Damn it all back to the Turn. I loved Ivy with a passion and was able to stand the pressure my jailer put on me for disobedience, but would my demon be able to withstand the deal? What if he agreed to the task?

_'Oh God, please don't make me kill Al.' _  
"Algaliarept, I demand that you kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood!" The undead spoke the words I feared the most right now. Ivy and Jenks stopped breathing as well, almost expecting Al's tall form to suddenly appear inside our circle.

It made me remember being trapped in a circle with Al twice. Once as Piscary summoned him to kill me, and I summoned him right back the moment Al had agreed to his terms.  
The other time I had jumped the lines to save some stupid-ass coven member from her worst nightmare, ending up stuck with Al in Brooke's circle. She'd tried to sic Al on my ass as well.  
Bis had given me the idea of circling the demon and Al let me. I'd banished him to wherever he wanted to be and was thus responsible for Brooke being demon-nabbed. Should I try to banish him if he went after Ivy?

Al tilled his head to the side, extracted a snuffbox of brimstone out of thin air, and took a deep sniff before it disappeared in a cloud of ever-after.  
"You want me to take another demon's possession?" His voice sounded so matter of fact and business-like that my heart almost dropped down to my feet.  
"Exactly, state your price?" The vampire sat up straighter and leant forward.

"Are you aware of the fact that killing another demon's possession will end with me paying amends?" Cormel's eyes flashed black in anger and he examined my demon with an intensity which made me long to rip his head off.

A slightest growl escaped him before he had his emotions back unter control.  
"I don't care!" the former president hissed furiously.

"Well I do. Besides, who, do you suggest will replace little Ivy? She is a real turn-on in the bedroom department, if you get what I'm talking about." Al's shit-eating anticipatory grin was back on his face.

Everyone's eyes centered on my flushing roommate, and I was absolutely clueless what I should do to put this situation back under control.  
Black eyed and pissed, the vampire strode over to our bubble and fixed his eyes on her.  
"What did you do?" he asked accusingly.

"Her touch is exquisite, so wild and soft at the same time. And her scentl when she gets wasted on our hormones." Al licked his lips and managed to look kinkier than all those peeping toms who tried to invade my privacy after I showed up on national TV naked.

"Not to mention her voice, when she came screaming under my hands." I turned red as I imagined what had happened in Al's bathroom. It wasn't entirely true, but it wasn't a lie either. I could tell Ivy wanted to say something to defend herself from the fuming undead's accusation.

Of course, calling the playing demon bluff wouldn't be the best thing she could do, especially since her life was currently in his hands.  
I drew her to her feet and whispered, "Don't tell on Al," in her ears. She looked at me like I'd lost my mind. But kept her silence, though she impaled my demon with a deadly glare.

"Algaliarept…" Cormel growled at him and almost leapt at the bubble in his rage. The black banshee stepped to his right, which made him master of his emotions once more.  
"Nice plan." The vampire flashed his teeth with a grin.

"So are you willing to let this go, or do you want to play Ivy Alisha Tamwood's substitute in my bed, Rynn Matthew Cormel? Picture my fingers all over you, my dick in your most secret place bringing you pleasures you never have dreamed of. Just the thought of you spread wide and begging under my ministrations is getting me hard."

The blood pressure in the room seemed to drop so fast that it almost made an audible sound. Everyone, including Ivy, Jenks, myself, and Cormel, went as pale as a white wall.

"So you want sex?" Was I mistaking it, or had Cormel's voice lost most of the force it usually possessed? Even the banshee looked kind of shocked.

"Oh no, not that easy, love. Not sex like in one-night-only. No, more like… ending up as my sex-toy for eternity, chained to me by the way of three marks." Al took off his glove and stroked the barrier that trapped him.

The vampire shuddered and took a step back from Al, clearly mortified at the demon's fantasies.  
"I don't have a soul you could own," he protested, managing to sound like a little boy, caught doing something really bad.

"What do you take me for. Rynn Matthew Cormel? I have enough souls to force one down your throat and make you feel every second of being OWNED by ME. Just leave it to me"

My demon scratched at the circle with some sort of claws, tearing sparkles of aura-laden ever-after from the barrier. It must have hurt like hell, since the circle was burning every part of his body that touched it.  
But the demon leaned into it anyway, rubbing against the undead's aura like a big cat. His tongue licked his claws clean of the magic force while his eyes found Cormel's. Al made his smocked glasses disappear to display black orbs like a vampire's.

"If, and ONLY if, you're willing to agree to those terms, then I'm willing to kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood." All air left me, and I was speechless. Would he really kill Ivy? I would never let him do that, not as my teacher, and not as my mate. He was in for some serious trouble if Cormel went for the deal.

The vampire backpedaled instead, totally shocked and disgusted at Al's idea of a summoning agreement. Cormel let his eyes travel over the green frock coat-wearing demon, who was now touching his middle suggestively, and I almost saw the moment he chose to never to summon him again.

"Algaliarept, I banish you. Go back to the ever-after and stay there, and do not bother me again." My breath failed me. Al had managed to scare an undead shitless. Hell, not only him, but everyone else as well.

"Not so fast, Rynn Matthew Cormel. You summoned me, and we have not agreed on any terms. Who is going to pay for the imbalance of the trips I had to take for this utter waste of my time?" He was back to his condescending self, like he'd never suggested putting the master-vampir into sexual servitude and had nearly gotten off on the fantasy alone.

"Give the imbalance to me and be gone, demon." Hell, Cormel must be pissed to agree to something like that. Al sighed, tsked, and commented, "You don't have a soul."

His nervous hands ran through his grey hair, the former world-leader barked a loud name through the room. I didn't catch it, since the witch and Ivy were pressing themselves into me, maybe thinking I, as the only other demon present, would be able to keep that thing off of them.

A young, wide-eyed woman hurried to her master's side. She was obvious a living vampire, highblood and not of Piscary's former camarilla. She might have been 20, given or taken a few years, most probably not even legal.  
"She is my scion- give the imbalance to her." Al eyed her over and shrugged indifferently.

"It's not her aura on that circle, so you'll have to take the bubble down." Al retracted his claws and put his gloves back on. Hell, I vowed never to let him touch me again.

"Fine, you will give the blackness of two trips through the lines to her, you will not hurt or snatch anyone in this room or beyond its borders, you will go straight to the ever-after when you're done, and you will remain there!" Cormel almost screamed. His scion tried to evade his grasp as she understood the undead's meaning.

Ivy's grip on me went more forceful; she probably remembered the blood-rape Piscary had forced on her to make her his scion. A low grumble of dissatisfaction left me.

"Deal," the demon drawled with his British accent, almost as if master-of-the-city had forgotten a valid point regarding this agreement.

Cormel moved to his circle, the witch and the banshee beside him. His finger touch the barrier and it went down. I almost expected my demon to leap at him and tell him what he had missed, but Al behaved like the British gentleman he was posing as.

He reached out to touch the aura of Cormel's scion. She was begging and pressing into her master, pleading not to be punished with the darkness two demon curses would leave on her soul.  
Empathy for her almost made me cry, while the incarnation of diabolicalness just transferred it to her. A smile quickened his lips and he was gone with a loud pop of displaced air, leaving my friends and me in this gigantic shit-pit to deal with the aftermath.

* * *

Third part of their fight against Cormel. Now they are trapped -.-".  
For all the people who wonder why Cormel can address Al with his summoning name... it is because all people in the room knew it already... so you know what kind of people are standing in that room. He knows that Ivy and Jenks know his name. The only one who doesn't know it, is the officer... but no one pays any attention to him... maybe because he is already considered demon-napped ^^.


	37. Deals and Loopholes

**A demoness awakens XXXVII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Jenks / Ivy / Al / Dali / Cormel / Miss Black / Tilly / Mina  
**Summary:** Al left the business-partners of Vampiric Charms alone. Rachel is still trapped in the circle hold up by Tilly. But for how long, and what will happen to Cormel's scion after she had been given Al's smut.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXVII: Deals and loop-holes  
**

**- Rachel -**  
The girl tensed up and started screaming. Cormel's eyes were fixed on her as everyone else ran around like headless chickens.  
"It hurts!" the vampire cried aloud and twisted in his grip, unable to deal with the imbalance the demon had just forced on her.

Part of me wanted to help her, but the other half wanted to be asked and paid with a mark. The inner conflict kept me silent. Jenks whispered something about helping her into my ear, which I answered with a small shake of my head.  
"Done playing nice, this is not my mess." My voice was deep and threatening, while the screaming went from bad to worse.

The girl crawled up the undead's arm in agony, not caring that she hurt her master.  
He was near panic and would have probably summoned Al for a second time this evening, if it hadn't been for the banshee. Miss All-in-black turned around to me and hissed upset, "Help her, demon-spawn!"

I licked my lips. So how did Al do this scaring the crap out of people thing?  
"I would love to, but I'm trapped in this circle. And that, sadly, makes me unable to do anything about it." My finger poked the barrier. It burned me, and pain ran up my whole arm. I ignored the stinging sensation and smiled.  
If I was lucky they would let me out without binding me to an agreement first.

"What has the demon done to her? Mina is dying!" Cormel looked pretty helpless in his current state.  
_'Mina? as in Mina Murray from Dracula?'_ Was he even serious? Some vampires were just too deep into their nature.

I shrugged at him.  
"Nothing serious, he just did exactly what he said he would. He gave her the smut for two trips through the lines. Have you ever asked youself why demons always turn up pissed when summoned?" I asked casually, like this whole display wasn't tearing big holes into my soul.  
The girl's screaming grew even worse, and I knew how much fighting a curse's imbalance hurt. My guts cramped up with the need to help her.

_'Need a summoning out, dove?'_ Al's voice reached my mind; even with realities separating us he was able to communicate with me, scrying-mirror devoided.  
_'The girl is dying. I can't just pop out of here. He'd never forgive me. What was this about him being a sex-slave-replacement for Ivy anyway? You know Ivy is not a sex-slave, don't you?'_ My mental voice was colored with displeasure.  
Fear flashed through me as I remembered that Al knew my name and could summon me whenever he saw fit.  
It would leave Ivy and Jenks at Cormel's mercy, and as I watched his scion fighting for her life, I worried there wouldn't be any left for my friends.

_'That's beside the point. Screw that damn vampire, did you really think your little plaything would be important enough that a master-vampire would throw away his freedom, belongings and pride just to see her dead?'_ the demon laughed aloud through our shared thoughts.  
_'So you knew he wouldn't…'_ Insecurity was coloring my question weak.  
_'Rachel, Rachel, you really have a lot to learn about this demon business. So what about summoning you? I don't like you being over there without my protection. Besides, the stupid idiot never said anything about summoning in general, did he?'_

So this was the big fat loop-hole in Cormel's deal. There were a hundred possible ways of using it to literally fuck Cormel up the ass, only I wasn't demon enough to unleash them. I had to save Mina, though, and it needed to look like it had been their idea.  
_'Summoning me out would leave Ivy and Jenks behind, and with his scion dying it would mean their deaths, too.' _

_'Like I care,'_ he sounded like it would mean as much to him as a sack of rise tipping over in China.  
_'I care!'_ That came over with a little too much force, and my demon answered with a low groan for the headache this must have caused.

_'So you want to stay over there? Rachel, I can't help you unless you summon me back.'_ Mina's scream shook me awake, out of my communication with my bloodthirsty demon.

"Help Mina!" Cormel's storm-gray eyes gave him the expression of being old. The little blond girl was drooling all over the parquet, the spastic convulsions the only sign of life.

The banshee's eyes were as black as the rest of her, only her skin was as white as snow. She confirmed my worst fear.  
"Her aura is breaking apart."

"I will, but in exchange, you will take Ivy back into your camarilla. No further threats, no harming her, no causing her first or second death, no making her uncomfortable or selling her off as a blood gift. We'll all just pretent that you never sent her off under a death-threat to make me her scion or shadow. And, Rynn Matthew Cormel, you will never try anything like that ever again! Got it?"

One of his gofers hissed at me. Everything I understood was a low 'demon', the rest was lost to me. It made me turn into his direction.  
"Not even close to how demonic I could be if I chose to be." With that comment he went ashen and shut up. After Al's little performance fresh in our minds, it would have silenced even me.

"I take her back, like nothing happened, and you will save my scion? You will not hurt anyone in these walls or beyond. No kidnapping anyone, no killing. And don't even think about using your sleepy-time potions. In short, you have to behave like a good girl." This was one of the times I desperately wished to be able to do the one-eyebrow trick.

_'Behave like a good girl?'_ What the hell was he referring to? But given that he made no further demands, I could probably twist this one like I saw it fit.

"Deal, now drop the circle or she is going to die her first death before I have the chance to do anything about it." His eyes found the fat witch; she raised her arm, most unwillingly and touched the circle enclosing me.

A short impulse to hurl a black curse at her flashed through my thoughts and died quickly.  
Finally I was free again, but instead of fleeing or fighting, I crouched over the dying vampire. If I remembered Al's lessons correctly, I had to touch her aura to access the imbalance of her soul. So I reached for her skin, and Cormel objected.  
"The other one never touched her!" he complained.

I hissed at him.  
"Grow up, will you? I'm not as experienced as Al." After this little confession he reluctantly let me touch her cooling face. My mind went to the line and I engaged my second sight. Mina's aura was a chopped-up mess and fading away all too quickly. The blackness, though, was still trying to find its way in.

I sent my own aura to touch the cold, cutting threads of imbalance my demon had left on her soul. It went still, almost like a living being, as it became aware of my touch. There was a feeling like recognition on both sides and the blackness began to rub itself against my aura like a big black cat that desired to be petted.  
It felt totally strange to sense its touch, but it wasn't uncomfortable. To be honest it felt familiar... It even felt… good.

_'That might be the right moment to get worried,'_ I thought. My mind reached for the purring darkness.  
It came at me with an almost erotic brush of warmth.  
"I take it." My voice was warm and husky as I tasted Al's imbalance coating my aura. Accepting smut on my soul never had felt that luscious.

Mina went slack under my hands as all the tension drained from her. Cormel eyed me over while I got to my feet.  
"So easy?" he asked as the banshee appeared almost by my right. She was a very unpleasant presence beside me, but this could have been due to my experiences with Mia.

"Yes, so easy! I will take my leave now. Come on, Jenks. Ivy, are you with us?" I asked and put a bit of distance between the black-clothed banshee and myself.

"Rachel, we agreed that you wouldn't take anyone from this room." Oh swell, so he wasn't the only one who had missed an important point in the deal.  
I gaze at him again and allowed myself to smile.  
"Kidnapping was the term you used, but taking a willing person is not kidnapping. I don't think Ivy or Jenks will object. Besides, Ivy belongs to me."

"You agreed to the terms. Are you going back on your word, demon?" He stood up and brought the senseless Mina with him, cradling her like a bride.

"No, and I hope you don't do it either, vampire. You hurt them and … " I searched for an appropriate treat, almost settling for the line Al once used on me: _'and your soul will be mine'_.  
The only problem with that was, soul stealing wouldn't work on the soulless.  
So what is a threat a demon could use on the undeads?

"Watch out, Rache!" Jenks exclaimed, and I evaded the touch of Miss All-in-black totally on instinct for a second time.

"Keep her on your fucking leash." I pointed at the banshee, who grinned.

"Well now, little rookie, you've never made deals where you were the demon, have you? You never said a word about your safety- or the little man's- and I'm pretty hungry." She licked her lips and a spike of fear ran through me.

"Cormel!" I hissed angrily at the vampire-master. He had given his scion to another vampire and was back again.  
"Not part of the deal, Rachel." He smirked as he fingered his phone open.

Anger formed itself into a big lumb in my throat.  
_'Fucking coward!'_  
"Not part of the deal… ? Can you guest what else wasn't part of the deal,Rynn Matthew Cormel?" A demonic grin appeared on my face as the easiest solution to the problem appeared in my mind.

A little uncertainty moved over his face, but was gone a moment later.  
"We want you to dcontinue your research on business of how to let vampires keep their soul after they died for the first time. In exchange, we will allow your friends and family-members to remain among the living." He pointed at Ivy and one of his underlings.  
"Get her out of here!" His order sounded cold as steel in the winter, and I had no illusions about him holding up to his end of the bargain. Damn, I wanted to sic Al on him; I would really enjoy seeing my demon painting the walls and the floor with his blood.  
Shock went through me as I imagined a really lifelike picture of it and sensed the tickling of imminent arousal. As soon as I became aware of it, my true self rose to repel my inner demon. I really shouldn't allow those fantasies.

The vampire flunky who tried to move Ivy to the door got an elbow right were it hurt. It was clear as daylight; Ivy wasn't going to leave me behind either.  
Jenks was right over my shoulder dusting angry red and flashing his garden-sword at the vampire master. Thanks to my agreement, I had rendered myself totally defenseless. Short of summoning Al to rescue me, I was pretty much out of options.

"You're free to leave with that pixy of yours as soon as you agree to give that soul curse to me," Cormel finished.

My eyebrows rose.  
"That wasn't part of the deal. I'm doing that research for Ivy, not for you. If you want that curse you'll have to buy it, like any other demon summoner" I really wasn't willing to give it to him for free. Even if I was able to figure out which curse would do the trick, after everything he had done he wouldn't get it without oweing me a favor… a big one!

He had trapped me in a circle, threatened my friends, my mate and last but not least, me. Cormel was acting like I was a demon, only without the respect you usually pay that sort of creatures. If he wanted a demon, he would for fuck's sake get one!

"You're going to owe me. There must be some custom for dealing with the soulless, and I bet Al would love to tell me about it," I said, while Cormel's lip twitched up.  
"Don't be so hasty, Rachel; there is something you should know before you demand further payment." His fingers danced over the surface of his phone.

I growled at him, halfway convinced I should just summon Al.  
"It has something to do with your family. If I don't call up my men at the right time, they are going to finish them off. So you'd better let me make that call." He spoke with glee.  
"You might have saved Ivy from my wrath, you might be able to protect the little fly with you, but you sure as hell can't jump to an unknown location to save your relatives," he laughed.

If I haven't been half senseless with fury it might have felt nice.  
The other end of the line clicked in place, but there were no words spoken; just silence, some street-traffic and …  
_'Why am I able to hear it?' _  
It took me seconds to figure out that he had switched on the speakers of his phone, so I would be able to hear both sides of the non-conversation.  
"One word, and the first one will die!"

"What the hell." Again that damn banshee tried to touch me; I evaded her touch, itching to kick that stupid bitch in the face. Ivy was engaged in a fight with the living vampire that was supposed to get her out of here.

"How about I keep your brother alive for the next week and you give that curse to me. For each additional week of their lives, you will give a curse to me. How about it Rachel?"

"You can't do that!" I complained, sounding totally myself and utterly beaten. This was worse than fighting the damn Coven. At least those fuckers were only hunting me, but Cormel knew that I didn't care as much for me as for the people I love!

"For each refusal, one of them will die. Your brother, his soon to be wife, your mother, her new boyfriend and if this doesn't work, how about your friends." A tear ran down my cheek.  
"You're worse than every demon I've ever met!" I hissed at him and rage was rising fast.  
_'Stupid, stupid Rachel!' _

He must have seen it or, maybe he scented it in the air, because he raised his forefinger in warning.  
"You going back on your word and Ivy will die her first death right here, right now. If you don't give me what I demand, you kill everyone you hold dear."

The damn banshee was trying again and this time Jenks had to help me escape her attack.  
Rage, wrath, darkness, and the line were hot and fast at my command. The growl that came from my lips made the banshee stop her attempts to steal my aura.  
_'Stop behaving like a witch!'_ the pulsing was back, taking control from me in little flakes of self-determined will.

"How about I call up my demon right here, right now, and give you to him gift-warpped in paper. Remember his sexual fantasies?" I licked my lips as lust came at the image of Al stripping that bastard of his control.

Cormel looked worried for a second, only to find his assertiveness again a blink later.  
He probably knew I was bluffing. It was sad that he was surer about it than I.  
"Rachel, neither killing nore hi-jacking me, is going to save anyone. The contracts are out. And if I don't call them up in time, no one can hold them back anymore. This equals, every-one you like and love this side of the lines, dies!" The undead had the same damn smug on his face as my demon, and I wanted to punch it right through the middle of the earth.

"You wouldn't dare!" Even my demon-voice sounded unsure. With all that power I could command I still felt utterly helpless.

"Accept the deal Rachel. It's the only thing that will save them!"  
Al was not the only one who was able to laugh like an insane madman; Cormel was doing a pretty fine job as well.

_'Fucking fuck fuck … shit,'_ what was I supposed to do now? My attempt to keep everyone alive was going to kill everyone I ever cared about.  
Of course I could summon my demon, I could call up Dali. I could level the building, since its destuction was never part of the original bargain, but it wouldn't save my family.

The freaking undead had me in his hands. This was so screwed up six ways to Sunday that I failed to think about anything.  
Jenks whispered something into my ear that was totally lost to me.

Now a cold touch was trying to get my attention. Someone was drawing at my aura.  
I knew the feeling of coldness that came with it, but I did nothing to defend myself, even if I knew that it would kill me.

Someone ripped the cold touch from me and warm arms caught me. Ivy's voice was beside my ear, as was Jenks', hurting me with his fast and high tone.

Miss Blackness made a low, wet noice, which reminded me of nothing in particular, but it gave me the suspicion that the shit had just hit the fan.

"What the hell!" Cormel sounded furious, and liquid rained down on me. I opened my eyes, just in time to see another head explode in a fontain of blood and gore.

"You!" the vampire hissed and eyed me over with black eyes.  
"It… wasn't me!" I said almost tonelessly. But the vampire's eyes were so full of hatred that I could have promised him all the demon-curses in their database, and he nevertheless would have ignored my words.

"Kill him!" he hissed and turned the display of his mobile in my direction. It flashed the scene from some rooftop. The barrel of a weapon aimed at a man who looked like my brother. He was walking across the street with some paper-bags.

A loud bang of a weapon exploded through the speakers of his phone. My heart stopped beating for a few seconds as I expected my brother to die.  
My eyes switched black with an enragement so pure I had no words left for it.

This time the uneasiness stayed on Cormels face, because the only word he might fear worse than Death fell from my lips.  
With satification, my demon followed the pull of his password and appeared right before the undead. His fingers went around Cormel's throat.

"Oh, I have been dying to get you little vampire!" Without having to take a look, I knew Al's eyes were as black as my own.  
My fingers found the dropped mobile and without a thought I watched the street, looking for my brother. Al would take care of the vampire. I felt numb, so hollow inside that there were no words to describe it.

"Al, that little stupid has put contracts on everyone Rachel knows. If he doesn't call up the killers, they die." My senseless mind started to whirl around in circles, centering on my family, on my friends, and even on my foes, who were destined to die… only for the crime of knowing me. More tears came at that thought while my restless hectic gaze found the last one of our team. Dali.

The older demon had his hand on his son's shoulder.  
"You kill him now, and we will never get the names of the killers he hired to do his dirty work." His voice was level and bereft of all emotions.

Al growled at him and shoved the undead into his father's arms, hard. Unprepared, both of them went down. While one of them turned misty, the other collided with the floor.

Jenks was furiously yelling at me, but all I was able to hear was a static buzz in my ears, sort of a tinnitus. I knew with an unnatural clearness that something in me has just broken… something important!

* * *

God, Cormel turned out to be a total ass. Al want's to kill him and Dali... well there you have to wait. Cormel sure as hell is toast. ^^  
It's not that I don't like him... well okay, after the stunt Piscary pulled... I don't trust him much. In my fiction doubting him proved to be the right decision.


	38. Failed plans

**A demoness awakens XXXVIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Dali / Al / Rachel / Ivy / Jenk / Cormel  
**Summary:** While Rachel and her party ran into their enemies, what were the demons doing? Well, the answer to that one, at least from Dali's point of view will be found in this chapter ^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXVIII: _Failed plans_  
**

**- Dali -**  
My wings were a blur of motion as I flew through the ventilation duct. It had been Al's idea to play Jenks' sons. Why he even wanted to support his mate's preposterous idea was totally beyond me.  
Probably telling him about the background of his attraction to the ignorant little witch had been a mistake.

I knew Al wasn't always the brightest, but this was ridiculous even for his high standards.  
Only topped by Rachel's own stupidity… the universe had a perverse sense of irony, pairing those two up.  
_'A matching pair, so to speak… and I'm trapped right in the middle of it.'_

I took a turn to the left, accelerating to the maximum speed pixy-wings could manage. It was pretty fast for anything that wasn't a male demon. Lucky me, I was exactly that.  
Al and I had the mission to loop the cameras so the little girl and her party could enter the lair of Rynn Matthew Cormel unseen.

Imagine that. The leader of the courts, respected and feared by every demon in the ever-after besides Newt, playing pixy backup.  
If any… and I mean ANY, other demon ever got even a hint of this, my reputation was fucked three eternities deep to nowhere.

The tunnel made a turn to the right and I took the curve with ease only to have blackness clasp around me.  
The next thing I knew was extraordinary pain in my head and something that could only be a cramp in my left leg.  
_'Grrreat!'_ even thinking hurted.  
Angry, I tried to get free of whatever held me motionless.  
"Sticky silk? You have to be kidding me!" A low grumble of dissatisfaction colored my voice darker than usual. That alone was a reason to let Cormel suffer.

The bad headache was stealing my last nerve and with a groan I summoned enough ever-after in my thoughts to shift into something smaller.  
My new form was the smallest one a demon could take, without storage curses only a royal could stir up. Who'd have thought I would ever use that one again?  
It was a leftover curse from the great wars against the elves; perfect for spying on the enemy. Which was exactly what I intended to do. It had been ages since I had changed into a mayfly.

Last time I had used that form to escape a really disastrous event which would have meant my end. Even with a great distance between me and the incident, it would have cost me life and soul, if it hadn't been for Kila. She had saved me.

The airway led down, probably to the basement. I checked my inner clock for the time and buzzed my four wings in disgruntlement.  
My little pixy-stunt had nearly blown out my lights for ten minutes. In situations like this, it was a time-span that could be of lethal importance, especially when demons were playing witches and pixies.  
Had I hit my head only the slightest bit harder, I might have killed myself. Just the way Al had done yesterday.  
That would have been really, really fucking embarrassing. Plus, Al and Ian would have laughed their asses off seeing Big Bad Dali of the Seers bite the dust like that.  
Not a future I was very found of.

My way led me first to the right, then to the left, and finally the airway ended. I passed the mesh that separated the tunnel from the room below. With relief, I misted back to my usual height.

It was totally dark here, not that it mattered to my sight. Demons had a way with the darkness. I perked my ears up and listened to my environment, not hearing anything, which was a bit strange given the fact that it was a master vampire's lair.  
Had Cormel given little-Miss-Fangs the wrong information?

Well, with that sticky silk all over the place they had clearly known what was coming for them. A heavy sigh left my lips as I summoned my blue seer's mirror.  
If Rachel and Al had fun playing lesser beings, so be it. I, on the other hand, was already sick of it. I had hit my head bad enough for a killer migraine once today, and I really wasn't hot for a repeat.

Legs crossing as I sat, I enclosed myself into a thick bubble of ever-after. There were various ways to die even for a demon, and color me paranoid but I was better safe than sorry.  
My fingers found the right positions almost on instinct, while my mind entered the off-colored stage only a seer could navigate in.

The present showed up as a colored sea of blues and whites, which was neither good nor bad. If we were still in the neutral zone, it was a good sign. But I trusted the remarkable ability of my family members to get into the worst of trouble in no time.

My mind picked the timeline of my daughter-in-law. Rachel was currently engaged in a fight with a vampire, one who was stupid enough to aim for her blood. And holy crap that undead was triggering the part of her psyche that was completely demonic.

Not a good choice, neither for her nor for Rachel. The young demoness feared her instincts even more than any other thing in the room.  
My fingers moved over the smooth, slowly warming glass of the mirror and the flow of time accelerated at my biddings.  
_  
This future was colored dark, almost black, with a bit of purple mixed in. Broken glass swam across my vision as I saw Rachel bent over a dead person. Blood all over her clothes, parts of entrails decorated the corridor and stairs. Her face was distorted with disgust and shock.  
Ivy, her vampire girl-friend, cowered at the wall opposite Rachel.  
If it were possible, she looked even more shaken to the core than the young demoness.  
"Rachel?" Finally, her voice reached the former witch, but the reaction was a mix of anger and emptiness. _

I didn't need to see the rest of that future; beside, I wasn't up to watch the vampire die at the hands her best friend. I was a sadist, not a sociopath. Instead of lingering further, I went on to pick another future.  
But I checked the present first. The fight was over, and against all hopes she had been able to control that demonic part of herself.  
_  
The next thread of possible future unraveled before me. This time it was grey, mixed in with a dirty shade of red. Someone was going to die. The pixy went to the left and loud shrieks flowed through the air. Fairies, three of them, attacked the little bug. Even with his sword and almost twenty years of fighting in his mind, without help he was a goner.  
If this weren't bad enough, two vampires were waiting behind a corner while Rachel was busy with a panic-attack. She whispered her demons name. Oh, great- that meant my useless son was in trouble as well. _

Angry with myself, I switched to his string of possible futures.  
_  
Sharp askew surfaces replaced the normal environment, and everything was colored the deep bloody red of impotent rage. I sensed the pull I haven't felt for the last two thousand years tugging at him. Great! He was being summoned, and Rachel was feeling it. She was probably thinking the summons was aimed at her. And if she decided to give in to the call before Al did, she could take over his summoning. Pretty stupid, I know, but those were called mates' privileges. They belonged to each other, shared everything, even their souls- which was exactly the reason why you never knew what you would get when you decided to summon a mated demon. Worst case, you could get two demons for the price of one. Only number two might not bother to appear INSIDE your circle.  
_  
A few quick movements later and I had picked the future in which Al was faster in answering his summons than Rachel.  
Who was summoning him was of no concern; Al could take care of himself.

The next intersection was if Rachel would follow Al, and I chose the one were she stayed with her friends. She struck me as that sort of person. I couldn't imagine her leaving her friends unprotected just because her demon, one who had been able to protect himself for the last five-thousand years without her help, was being summoned.  
_  
This time everything was the color of blood, and more mist than real shape. That was so not good- it usually meant the death of the one whose timeline I was visiting.  
Rachel was finally coming back to herself, but she wasn't alone anymore. Jenks was fighting the fairies and losing quickly. Ivy was ensnarled in a fight with another vampire, most probably an undead. And there it was… a glittering in the dark. The shape of a sword and pain was exploding in my head. _

It cost me a lot of will-power not to scream. Rachel was about to die. Could that girl do anything WITHOUT bothering the whole ever-after with protecting her? By Chibirias of the Earth, she was worse than Newt.

I rose and banished my mirror back to its place, exchanging it for the two blades of obsidian, a payment from Ian for a favor he had owed me once.  
If Rachel managed to get herself killed, Al would follow her, since he couldn't survive the loss of a mate a second time. Beside, if I let the female who was going to be the vessel of Kila's rebirth die, I would never be able to forgive myself.

There was only one choice left for me to take. It was highly against my principles, but I would interfere. With the desire for Kila's touch, I jumped into the darkness of the stairs right the moment the vampire with the sword made his first attack.

Good thing I had made the decision without dwelling in the possible futures any longer, or I would have been too late. I had no time left to prepare a dramatic entrance so I just bounded over the female who was currently evading his first strike. She drew heavily on the line, but the undead had his own agenda in mind and wouldn't just be standing by, playing target.

He was pretty ready for everything, probably a curse or a circle. But he wasn't ready for the real thing. What hit him next was … me!  
It was bad for the experienced warrior that his opponent was a demon who had learned all his fighting skills on the battlefield.

My first attack split him in half from head to crotch, and the second one decapitated him. The three following slashes were just my inner darkness getting the best of me. It was a nice little display of what happened if someone was stupid enough to seriously mess with the children of the Gods. Hopefully Rynn Matthew Cormel would remember it.

My eyes examined the corridor. Jenks wasn't looking good anymore, and even if it was tempting to let him die for his weakness, the little guy was just a bit too interesting to witness his ending. Ivy screamed in pain and. She, too, had something about her what was intriguing, enough to keep her around for a while longer. Maybe I was just too bored with soulless dolls; maybe I was hungry for a challenge.  
Whatever it was, both of Rachel's teammates had to be saved, even if it was only to keep her sane long enough to bear the child she had promised me.  
Latin spilled from me and energy slashed out at any aura in the area. I left out Rachel and Ivy, who where both wearing a mark of mine, and Jenks who sadly had none- which made the whole not killing him business a bit more tricky.

Slowly Rachel got back on her feet, as did Ivy. Both centered their eyes on my impressive frame with my two now blood-dripping obsidian katanas in hand. I uttered the obvious fact just to rile them up.  
"They summoned Al, and used his missing support to ambush you."

My mind entered the seer's-state again, because having the three run around the house without a destination was an invitation for trouble. Bitol of the Heavens knew what the undead had ready for them in the basement. He obviously wasn't down there.

I tried to find his timeline without a seer's-mirror. The best thing I could get was an emotion and perhaps a location.

_'Why the hell is this taking so long?'_ A strange voice whispered in my mind. It must have been Cormel, since the purple aura of the undead made itself known in the vision of slightest gray mixed with green. Not a good sign, but it was a hell of a lot better than dark red, black, or broken glass.  
Given the fact that he was riling up two powerful demons—three, if you count me in as well- gray with green was a surprisingly good color for his timeline.

It took my mind about two seconds to parse the information of is location from the seer's state into his real-world location.  
I turned to the girl who was now my daughter in law and blurted the information to her.  
"Your target is upstairs, fifth door to the left."  
She looked at me, dumbfounded, and I vanished in a cloud of ever-after.

* * *

If you asked yourself what the demon Dali did the whole time, you shouldn't miss this chapter.


	39. Spy and revenge

**A demoness awakens XXXIX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Dali / Al / Rachel / Ivy / Jenk / three officers from the I.S.  
**Summary:** What happened to Dali after he dissapeared on Rachel and her party? Well, you gonna find out now ^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XXXIX: _Spy and revenge_  
**

**- Dali -**  
I hadn't gone back to the ever-after, and I hadn't left the room. I was just back in my little fly form, spying on the little group as they stared at the floor, colored with the blood of their enemies. I almost expected Rachel to throw a temper tantrum about all the deaths around her. Surprisingly, she wasn't bothered in the least, probably due to her instincts urging her to jump after Al.  
She simply had too much to do fighting her own instincts to worry about the people who just tried to kill her and her friends.

"Good thing he's on our side… " the little man said, and I observed with astonishment how Rachel answered this comment with one of her own.  
"Demons only know one side… their own."

An almost proud purr shifted over my nonexisting lips. Finally she had learned one of the most important rules of dealing with our kin. Everyone has his own agenda. A demon doesn't need to like you to work with you, as long as his goal could be reached through using you.  
What makes you allies for one goal can make you grave enemies for the next. You never know with us. Not even if they are family. Just look at Newt's own personal family-drama for proof of that.

I shook myself out of the turn my thoughts had taken. I was in the middle of a mission and pausing to remember my past now was a pretty stupid thing to do.  
_'Bad choise… stupid choise… focus Dali, you foul!'_ I reminded myself and followed the former witch upstairs.

You should think that she would be able to keep out of trouble for at least a few more minutes… but there she was again, her little runner-business trapped in a circle of black, surrounded by three witches, one with a wand, two obviously ley-line witches, all three of them muttering Latin.  
They were trying to trap her, probably to banish her, or to take control of the female demon.

I gulped as I imagined what would happened if they succeeded. Al had already returned to this side of the lines. He was in someone's circle, propably Cormel's.  
Rachel had a hard enough time controlling herself and staying with Ivy and Jenks. If she jumped, I would have the trouble of saving those two on my ass. If I just let them die, Rachel might lose her sanity- especially, if her longings for Al's touch were responsible for her leaving them behind.

The last thing I needed was another insane female. Newt was bad enough on her own, and Rachel was walking trouble even without being a nutcase.  
Hard to imagine what would happen if she went as crazy in the head as our forgetful queen.  
I shivered, almost afraid to look. The three witches, most probably either on Rynn's payroll or belonging to the I.S., were almost finished circling her.  
Either she or I had to do something about this BEFORE their sheet of ever-after could enclose her. I knew what would happen otherwise. With all the control the young one already had over her instincts, it was only the fact that she still had the choice to follow Al at any time that enabled her to fight the urge.  
But being in the circle of another's creation would take that alternative from her, which would equal a complete loss of control.

A simply drawn circle wouldn't be a serious hindrance for a furious female. To keep them in or out you needed more preparation. She could pretty much either rip their auras to shreds with some curse or another, drain them of their soul's protection, or use their auras on the circle to glut them with enough ever-after to level the whole freaking building.

Yes, there was a damn good reason why demon community was purely matriarchal, even if there was only one female left. Well, with Rachel, we technically had two females, but compared to Newt, the little one wasn't much of a threat, unless she fused with the database.  
That she was able to manage it was blatantly clear after the church incident. Another thing I never wanted to witness again. Young raving mad demonesses boosting their abilities with help of their untrained access to the database… it tended to end BADLY!

Seconds ticked by. Nothing seemed to move for an eternity. When would Rachel do something about this? I was halfway shifting back to my usual form so I could do some more sword dancing, when the youngest of the witches uttered a mortified cry and practically tried to jump through the wall.  
My attention returned to the events below. Rachel seemed to have finally reached a conclusion and jumped the weakest link of the trio. The other two witches had the rest of her firm on their asses.

I had always known pixies could be a mortal danger, but obvious the witch with the wand hadn't seen it coming. Throwing stunning charms at four inch people could be quite harmful. He screamed loudly as he lost his weapon and used his hand to protect his injured eye.  
If the little guy had aimed at it, he could have given the witch a lobotomy right there and then. The remaining eye of the guy was centered on his enemy, and I could imagine pretty well how he must be feeling now. Beaten up by a four inch pixy, probably half his age, embarressed and afraid. I grinned. I really liked the would-be-dad of my son's mate.

If you thought the witch, who was also the oldest of the three, was better off with Ivy, you were pretty wrong. She was on him faster than a dog on his bitch, holding him up by his throat, pressing him to the wall and taking a deep breath of his panic.  
Her eyes were black and I felt the pull of her instincts to taste his fear, in form of blood.

"She … she is … a demon!" the youngest one finally found his voice. He was probably even more afraid when the witch Ivy had pinned to the wall.  
Having a vampire feeding from you could turn you into his or her shadow, which was bad, but a demon could do a lot worse, and Rachel's hostage knew that.  
Perhaps he was already seeing himself already in the ever-after, chained to an oven, stirring curses for all eternity. Suiting image, if you ask me.

"Think twice before using that stuff on a pixy, you piece of fairy crap!" Jenks yelled at his downed witch while Rachel amplified her grip on Mister Victim's throat.  
A deep growl of longing and satisfaction fell from her as she sensed his terror. I knew that Ivy wasn't the only one at the verge of losing control anymore.  
Rachel looked for the lack of a better word … sexy.  
_'Bad, Dali… bad! Your son's mate! REMEMBER? Verrrry bad!'_ I thought. What was up with ME?

Jenks had turned his attention to his two wannabe-daughters and sighed in annoyance, probably because the job of bringing them down was in his hands.  
The time he used to fly over to Ivy was used by the wand-wielding witch to prepare a spell. He aimed the stick of old redwood at Ivy, perhaps grasping that throwing attack spells at demons was a pretty dumb idea.

"You throw that ball of shit at my friends and I swear you will find yourself on the surface of the ever-after," she hissed at him.  
Their eyes met, the witch barely suppressed a shudder. It even worked on me …partly. Not that this threat would actually work when you opponent was a demon, but the way she said it, the way she licked her lips in anticipation… it was sort of alluring.  
_'Damn, get a grip on yourself, old guy! You really don't want to have THAT sort of trouble on your ass!' _

As fast as it came, it was gone again. The vampiress and the demoness looked at each other with their black eyes, and then Rachel seemed to find a part of her old will-power and ordered Ivy to let go.  
I never thought Ivy would be a person so easily controlled. It kind of disappointed me.  
The oldest witch dropped to the floor and fumed angrily at them all, but mostly at Rachel.  
The youngest member of their team chose this moment to build up some backbone, which awakened her barely suppressed instincts anew.

"Get lost! I have your youngest team-member and I will keep him until we are safe. If you cross us I swear by everything that's holy I will give him to Al."  
This little outburst, spoken in a threatening dark demon voice mixed with something that almost sounded like fear, brought silence with it. Nothing happened for a few seconds.

The oldest witch seemed to be majorly offended by this threat and almost cried,  
"You would give one of your own to a demon."

He had moved over to his other comrade and helped the disoriented witch to his feet.  
She began to list the latest escalation of their misdeeds against her, while I hoped she would hurry the fuck up. I wasn't worried about Al, but I was worried about what Cormel would ask off him.  
_'Done playing nice? Dreaming, aren't we? Of course little one, you don't even know how "NOT playing nice" is done, fortunately for everyone around you. At least as long as she had her instincts under control,'_ I thought with not a little pity.

She would never gain status in the ever-after, as long as she remained this little nice push-over. But at least she seemed to get that she was no longer a witch. How deep this realization went, though, was another question.  
The faster she grasped the meaning of it, the better it would be for her and Al- and for me of course.

The pixy, the vampire and the demoness decided to take the little officer hostage.  
The Chosen One was scared shitless at the thought of being left alone with a demon.  
His panic drew another instinct driven reaction from Rachel, one that made me hot with longing.  
Time slowed down while I watched her tongue and teeth playing with his earlobe.  
Not a word of conversation was entering my brain anymore, and as she tilted his head to the side, watching his pulse beat there like crazy under the skin. I had halfway lost myself in her sensations.

Thoughts about my hands in her hair and my lips on her neck came to me unbidden, and the only thing that saved us all a whole lot of trouble was the wand-wielding witch who shook the demoness out of her will to dominate her poor victim.  
_'Inbred elf brains…'_ Only now I grasped what I had almost done. I voiced a deep menacing growl on my own stupidity.  
_'I ough to sue myself!'_  
Finally, I invoked one of the lust-dampening curses I had stored in me.  
Why was it only now occurring to me, that having a demoness in her first heat next to me, who wasn't master of her instincts, would cause me to react like that, despite myself?  
_'Dali, you are turning careless in your age.'_  
It probably was the fault of 5000 years without women. Even if Newt was one, she never behaved like one, not when it came to the pheromones one could kick off. Once again clear in my head, I decided to never tell Al about it. He might try to do something stupid otherwise.

The witch was sitting on the floor holding a big, bleeding lump on his head while Ivy and Rachel started to discuss his fate. What a poor thing he was… I almost laughed my head off. Having two predators starting up negotiations about whose meal you're gonna ended up must be a nice way to see the inner walls of hell.

"We have… got to find Al… I'm losing it. Do… you have enough control, to…" Rachel pointed at her witch.  
_'Do tell!'_ My thoughts were entering their usually state of sarcasm. I appraised this as a sign that everything had returned to normal.

Trying to steal another's mate was a crime which normally ended with two demons fighting to the death. And if it ever got serious between Al and me, his chances weren't any better than a snowball's in a vulcano. I was as good as twice his age, had a seer's power in my hands, and was armed with a royal's weapon.  
One of those things was bad enough, all three together were a death-sentence. Beside, I had experience when it came to fighting other demons. Being the boss of the courts isn't exactly a walk through the park.

"Damn my dame," Rachel cursed in her dark demon-voice. She picked her witch up from the floor like he weighed nothing, which was a clear indicator of how deep in her mate's abilities she was trafficking.

"Rachel, wait!" The whole gang started moving down the hallway, Ivy and Jenks complaining about the possibility of a trap, Rachel completely ignoring them.  
Her mind was fusing with the line and she flung a curse at the door that couldn't be called anything else than total overkill. She was angry, furious with the sassiness of the undead. If she went against him in this mood, his chances of survival weren't very big.  
Never forget: female demons are masters of the lines and stealing from them is just SUICIDAL.

She halfway ran through the door. The vampire made a grab for her to get her back into the hallway. Colorful magic was the answer to her curse and it hit the wall opposite to the door, bursting into bright flames. Good thing Ivy had a functioning brain left in her head or we would have had not only a pissed off demoness, but also a heavily injured one on our asses.  
Pain didn't usually encourage a demon to think straight, so let's just say her answering attack would have leveled the building. This must have been our lucky day.

I was still in the form of my little mayfly as I entered the room. No one would spare me a glance. I was way too small to get myself spotted. Even if they were all happy trigger finger about blasting the doorframe, it would pretty much be at the human breast level and not half a centimeter away from the ceiling.

The best thing about it was that absolutely no one was expecting me to be there. Not Al, who was trapped in a purple tinted bubble of ever-after, and was watching the door and the floor with ire.  
Not Cormel, who sat on a chair with the air of a king, not his flunkies who were gathering around him and not the witch kneeing on the floor with her fingers hovering over a line of magnetic chalk.

The shape of a circle burned itself into my mind the moment Rachel waltzed into the room like a storm, red hair flying wildly.  
_'Oh, no!'_ was the only thing I had time to think before the trap went up.

And bam, the circle flashed alive with the green aura of its maker. The three came to a halt inside of it. They were trapped. Just great!

* * *

Dali and his humor ^^. Don't missunderstand him, there is nothing going on between him and Rachel. Even if he was attracted to her. I haven't the slightest intention to write any Dali and Rachel stuff at all. It's just demon instincts ^^.


	40. Mate privileges

**A demoness awakens XL**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Dali / Al / Rachel / Ivy / Jenk / Cormel / the banshee / Tilly  
**Summary:** Rachel and her group got themselves trapped in a circle. Al is trapped as well. What's up with Dali. Is he inside a circle or not. What is the demon doing while everyone else is busy. Find out and get a crashcourse in demonlaws.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XL: _Mate privileges_  
**

**- Dali -**  
I … wasn't. My altitude, the height of the ceiling and the size of the witch's circle, all spared me the embarrassment of getting myself trapped with the other three.  
Funny how Rachel had complained about me being a hindrance to the whole mission, calling me names like 'unworldly bureaucrat'… and NOW I was the ONLY one who still could fight. I was SO going to rub her face in it! Assuming, of course, that we all survive this.

Al eyed her over in totale annoyance, and started banging his head against his summoning-circle in disbelief.  
Even if he just said, "Oh, nooo…!" it sounded more like, 'Rachel, you total moron! Do I REALLY have to TELL you to watch out for circles!'

I halfway expected her to lose it now and braced myself for it, but she kept her calm… probably due to Al's presence.

"Splendid! Welcome to my lair, Rachel Marianna Morgan. Ivy." Cormel greeded them. I noted that he left the red-dusting pixy out of it, like Jenks wasn't even worth a mention.  
An act I would have fully agreed with yesterday, but which left me with the bitter aftertaste of an insult now. My son and daughter seemed to have accepted his place as her wannaby-dad, which turned the pixy into some kind of family.  
Who would have guessed that Dali of the courts would end up being in the same clan as a pixy? I sure as hell wouldn't have seen THAT one coming, not even with my ability to glance at the future.

_'Hell, I have to talk to Newt about it!'_ She was the hostess of the party and Jenks needed an invitation to enter the sealed palace. As father to the bride, he belonged on the guest list! He could even press charges on that matter- if he wanted to, that is.  
Color me suspicious, but with his protective streak, I was pretty sure he was going to.  
The big question about this was how to tell Newt. How could I convince her that Jenks was indeed what he was posing to be? Newt was crazy, but she wasn't THAT crazy.

An unfriendly cold hiss brought me back to the present.  
"Give me your summoning name!" The woman who spoke was clothed in black. To be more precise, everything about her was black, with the exception of her skin. The skin was an almost transulent white. I engaged my second sight to look at her more closely.  
_'Oh Capital! A banshee! Does Rachel know that circles and banshees don't mix well?'_ I doubted it.

Banshees were the results of some serious tempering with demon-genetics. It was the breed that came from the females, while vampires hold the characteristics of us male demons.  
Given their origin, banshees were an even more dangerous failure than the vampires. They were as incapable of working magic as vampires, but their ability to drain a person's or even a crowd's emotional energy was what made them so damn unpredictable.  
_'War's inventions… aren't they great?'_  
The worst of it was that a banshee could take down a protection-circle simply by draining the aura of the person holding it up. Everything they needed was a physical contact with the bubble.

"I will not give you my name." Rachel crossed her arms and fought for calm, amazingly still winning.  
"You have to. We trapped you in a circle. Tilly, ask her!" The banshee turned around to the little witch who had raised the circle around Rachel. Her name seemed to be Tilly. Was it her true name? I doubted it.

Miss Goth seemed to know a lot about demon-summoning and stuff. But she had made a few errors nevertheless.  
First, a summoning-name is a major issue and you can't compel a demon into revealing it, even when you have trapped them in a circle. Not doing us much good otherwise, but Newt's laws protected us from that.  
Second, Rachel was not a male demon, and if she had had the necessary education, the circle around her would mean nothing to her. And last, but not least, there were the mate privileges. Al was trapped in a mere summoning-circle, which left him with the choice to say 'no' and his rights were hers.

_'You see why demon-summoning only became trendy after the last female beside Newt had bit the dust?'_ I smiled at that thought.

The witch repeated the order of her accomplice almost to the word, but she got the same answer as the first interrogator.  
"In exchange for mine?" Tilly offered. I landed on the ceiling and surveyed the whole show, rubbing my legs together in glee. What was Rachel going to do? Would she give her name away, forming her first reality contact with it and possibly going into the same business as her mate? I really doubted THAT.

No, she wouldn't. She just looked at the witch as if the woman was a bug below her foot and tried for indifference.  
"You don't have a summoning-name." I knew no demon who could have done a better job being condescending. The girl had potential.

It forced the witch to get more precise.  
"I will give you my full name for your summoning name." Impatience colored her voice darker.

To satisfy my form's need for motions, I flew to the wall and started walking there in little circles, careful not to draw anyone's attention. Even if no one would regognize me as a demon, what would you do to a mayfly in your eyesight? Easy answer: smash it.

"Why should I want your name? You don't owe me anything." Rachel's condescending behavior went onto the next stage and it made the witch twitchy as all hell. I laughed, using my wings to express it. This was so delicious.  
Rachel might not be as skillful in scaring people shitless as a true demon… but she sure could irritate the hell out off people.

"A mark? All right, go in there and kill that demon," the witch grumbled, exasperated, and pointed her outstretched finger at Al.

Total silence fell over me as I expected the girl to blow it three ways to eternity now.  
That was probably the most stupid thing you could ask… order a demon to do.  
_'Kill your mate!'_ Did she know she had a right to refuse that? If not and she agreed we all would be in for a shitload of trouble.

"Not happening. You have nothing, not even all your souls together that would be worth such a deed." I had to take a deep breath of relief.  
Tilly was at the end of her ideas and turned to her two masters. Her first glance found the banshee, the second found Cormel.

The master-vampire sighed like a drama-queen and barked his own order through the room.  
"Rachel Marianna Morgan, kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood." Again I fell motionless, but at least I remembered how to breathe.

Rachel had a right to refuse that, too. First, the vampire wasn't the creator of the circle trapping her. Second, there was the ownership clause, which made it the demon's business to decide the life or death of his belongings. And, of course mate's privileges, again!  
See, playing serious summoning with a pair of mated demons was worse that chess, 5 figures against 16. There was simply no chance of winning this.

"Not happening, either. She's already mine. Why should I kill something of mine, for you?" I raised my eyebrow. Who was telling her that she had the right to refuse? Al?  
I doubted it. The demon looked pretty peeved about all this and was probably engraving a how-to-kill-Cormel plan into his mind, rather than giving advices to his mate.

"Well, whatever, we have two demons here." Cormel wasn't bad with the patronizing behavior himself. He turned his attention back to Al.  
"Algaliarept, I demand that you kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood!" The master-vampire spoke his request in a way that showed his experience.  
But it didn't change anything, they weren't gonna move anywhere anytime soon with their two trapped demons. It was a stalemate.  
The two prisoners could refuse everything they wanted to. This stalemate could go on for the next hour, until the rising sun would put an end to it. If I were unlucky and very patient that is.

Sadly, this would begin to bore me in… well, let's just say … in the next five minutes. I wasn't trapped in anyones circle, and I knew where the pattens to raise them were drawn on the floor. Besides, the witches would be gone in a rain of bloody innards before they would even get the chance to think about creating them.  
Demon-males could be pretty fast if they wanted to.

Al was modesty in the pure sense of that word, making a show out of his appearance.  
"You want me to take another demon's possession?" Oh, pretty, the demon games went into the second round.  
Of course, Ivy was part of his belongings as well, but Cormel didn't know that.  
Even trapped in a circle, both of them had the right to lie by omission. The rule Al mentioned , however, existed. The law of possessions, created way before Newt became queen, was even older than myself. It ensured that no demon killed another's belonging without ending up in front of the courts, sued for damages.

Last time the undead and Al encornered each other, the facts were lying a bit different. Rachel had still been a witch, Ivy a free vampire and Al was about to drag her witchy-ass in front off the courts to testify in the matter of the Ceri-being-free-incident.  
He would have killed her roommate then without a second thought. Now… he refused.

The undead was as frustrated as the witch named Tilly.  
And Al wasn't done with ticking the vampire off… no he had just started. Again I rubbed my legs in glee. Someone else was going to be the victim of his less congenial habits, someone else besides me. I had always suspected that Al invented them especially to piss me off.

"I don't care!" the vampire hissed as a response.  
"Well, I do. Besides, who, do you suggest will replace little Ivy? She is a real turn-on in the bedroom department, if you get what I'm talking about." Al wore a grin what reminded me of my own and I almost fell off the wall laughing.  
It took me all self-restrain I possessed not to dwell on the images his comment created in my mind. The undead didn't seem to be able to withstand the pull of those pictures either. He walked over to the bubble and stared at Ivy with black eyes, uttering a totale redundant:  
"What did you do?" Like it had been her fault, like she could have fought a demon off if he really wanted to force himself on her.

"Her touch is exquisite, so wild and soft at the same time. And that scent when she gets wasted on our hormones…" I watched him as he licked his lips, but the way he put things made me highly doubt he had really had sex with Ivy. But hell, his talk invoked the fire in my loins to make her mine.  
Images entered my mind unbidden, her wild black hair in my fingers, pulled to the side while my teeth found her neck for a nip. I had to find a way to wangle her away from their protection, and if it were only for one night.

"Not to mention her voice, when she came screaming under my hands."  
My eyes found the group trapped in the green-tinted circle and they both looked uncomfortable enough for it to be true. Rachel whispered something into Ivy's ear, probably a request not to tell on Al. But since the demon wasn't outright lying Cormel couldn't do anything about it. Beside, he had no word in the courts, and I was bearing witness to the whole scene first hand, so not a change for winning that one, either.

"Algaliarept…" Cormel growled at him and almost jumped the bubble in his rage.  
It was soothing my soul to know that Al's methods of bugging people didn't only work on me. The aura of the banshee lashed out and drew the rage from the undead.  
Cormel eyeballed his confederate- that clearly hadn't been part of their deal. But since it saved him the trouble of fighting an angry demon, it was all right with him, at least for now.

"Nice try," was his only response to Al. and I knew it was pissing the demon off. But with the grin he flashed at Cormel, it was obvious their pissing-contest was about to enter the next stage.

"So are you willing to let this go, or do you want to play Ivy Alisha Tamwood's substitute in my bed, Rynn Matthew Cormel? Picture my fingers all over you, my dick in your most secret place bringing you pleasures you never have dreamed of. Just the thought of you spread wide and begging under my ministrations is getting me hard."  
Everyone went shock still at this revelation, even I.

Inbred elfbrains, Al must have been truly pissed, or really oversexed and underfucked. I almost put my money on the later. As far as I knew he had only sex with his mate once.  
By the look on her face she was the first to parse this into something that made sense, and it wasn't working in Al's advantage, that much I could tell.

"So you want sex?" Cormel asked scared to the bone, but he managed to appear untouched.

Al was in one hell of a mood, and with the slightest worry blossoming in my soul I saw how he removed his glove. He didn't do that often this side of the lines.  
His unclothed fingers touched the barrier that carried the aura of the undead, stroking it almost like a lover.

Uneasiness spread through the room as Al spoke further, about forcing one of his hard-earned souls down Cormel's throat to make him feel every second of his attention.  
I shivered at the thought what he might do next as his hand turned into claws. How bad had he lost it? Would he use his mate's powers to take this circle? It would be a total violation of Newt's laws, the one that granted a summoner safety as long as they could contain the demon inside a circle.  
If he could trick his way out, everything was legal and he wouldn't suffer any consequences for snuffing him out. But if he forced the bubble down, he would have a pissed Newt on him as soon as she got wind of it.  
It was strange how the crazy bitch always seemed to be informed, even if she paid no attention to anything but her latest tic.

_'Al, tell me you're not going to force the circle!'_ I sent over to him.  
His eyes shifted over the room, searching for me. But even his eyes didn't spot me sitting on Cormel's chair.  
Al refrained from answering me and clawed at the barrier instead, but he wasn't lashing out with ever-after at the aura bound barrier of force.

He turned his back on the ashen vampire and rubbed himself against the circle's lining. It almost looked like a big cat marking his territory. His tongue tasted the undead's aura. If he had been a female Cormel would have been in serious trouble.  
But Al being male wasn't going to help the vampire much; having a demon tasting your aura seldom was a good thing.

My son would remember his taste, and he would be able to find the guy just about everywhere. Darkness touched his aura for a second and a tiny patch of smut remained.  
He was now Al's personal matter to be taken care of; no other demon would poach until the mark was gone or they had a talk with the one who put the death threat on him.  
No one but us both knew it, but Cormel had just been marked by a demon killing-mark.

The demon's glasses vanished in a mist of red ever-after, to unveil black eyes. Oh yes, Al had majorly lost it. My legs tensed, prepared to interfere. Not that I wanted to save the damn undead, but I couldn't lose Al, not after he owed me three marks and promised me his child.  
They were MINE. And no lowlife vampire would steal from me.

_'Don't you dare to make this into my problem, Algaliarept!'_ A warning snarl was transmitted over the thought-communication curse.

_'Where the freaking hell are you, old man?'_ he cursed at me. At least he was reacting to his name, which was a good sign. I relaxed the slightest bit, knowing he wasn't as far gone as he appeared to be.

"If, and ONLY if, you're willing to agree to those terms, then I'm willing to kill Ivy Alisha Tamwood." My eyes stared at Al. This time I fell off the wall. Luckily, Luckily, I had wings and was pretty small, so I stopped my fall before I could hit the floor.  
Damnation and chaos, he was faking it. It all had been an act, and I had bought it with hook, line and sinker.

His mate, though, had bought it too, and she still believed each word that came from him. She was planning some defenses for her little plaything.  
The young demoness would have to fight Al seriously to prevent her Ivy's death. If the undead went for the deal, they were in trouble, a circle of Rachel's creation wouldn't be able to hold Al since they shared part of their souls.

But honestly how big were the changes of that?  
"Algaliarept, I banish you. Go back to the ever-after and stay there, and do not bother me again." I laughed loud and dark over our communication curse.  
Inbred elf brains, he had scared an undead shitless enough to banish him without finishing a deal first. Pretty sloppy of the vampire, and the best of it was still on the way.

Al used his mate privileges to stay this site of the lines, even though he had been banished. Cormel looked nonpulsed.  
"Not so fast, Rynn Matthew Cormel. You summoned me, and we have not agreed on any terms. Who is going to pay for the imbalance of the trips I had to take for this utter waste of my time?"

The vampire was furiously thinking about what had changed- since when could a demon withstand a banishment? But he certainly didn't reach the right concludion.  
The solution was easy; he had to banish both demons at the same time. That would force both of them back to our side.  
But he would never be able to trap them both in circles at the same time ever again. Besides, no rule prevented Rachel from jumping into his lair uninvited, come next sundown.

I seriously doubted that Newt would go to the trouble of beating her newest female rival into submission. Not after the database incident in the church. She knew first handed how dangerous the young ones could be once they united their will with it.

"Give the imbalance to me and be gone, demon." I gazed at the undead. Was he nuts? He didn't have a soul, so he couldn't take it, but his scion obviously could.  
Belonging to the soulless was not always a joy.  
Within a matter of seconds the two reached an agreement and Al gave his smut to the girl. Only problem was she was not a witch, not a demon, and not an elf. Her mind had never tasted the power of a line and she was unable to accept the smut.

* * *

Al and the scene with Cormel ... I like that one, even from Dali's eyes ^^.  
_40 Chapters... I never thought I would get that far with the Fanfiction. ^^_


	41. Communication

**A demoness awakens XLI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Dali / Al / Rachel / Ivy / Jenk / Cormel / the banshee / Tilly  
**Summary:** Al got himself banished and now Dali sits on the ceiling and watches Rachel how she digs her grave deeper with each passing second. Of course Al doesn't like Rachel's decision not to summon him, or being summoned my him for that matter. And guess who is taking the heat for this. Dali is going to love this attention.

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens XLI: _Communication _  
**

**- Dali -**  
As the blackness of his imbalance began to tear her aura apart, she was as good as history. Cormel and his banshee-bitch looked down on the screaming, tortured girl and were absolutely clueless as to what they should do. None of them had the power to help her.  
There were only two people in this room who could save Cormel's scion, myself and Rachel. And I as sure as hell wasn't gonna do shit about it.

Jenks whispered something in the demoness' ear and got a low threatening, "Done playing nice!" as his answer.  
But even if she sounded angry, and appeared to be unaffected by the dying girl, the tightness around her eyes sent a different message through the room.

The banshee turned to her and ordered her to do something about it. According to the rules, and with her mate gone, she would have to obey.  
But as I said before, she could take the circle at any time. Her ignorance wasn't changing that fact. Besides, I half expected my son to make a re-appearance or to summon her out of that bubble. Loopholes, demons loved them, and even the young one knew there had to be some, since Al hadn't been bitching about his part of the deal.

"I would love to, but I'm trapped in this circle. And that, sadly, makes me unable to do anything about it." My legs rubbed against each other in glee again, she wasn't going to force her way out. No, she tried to trick them, to sign their doom with their own hands.  
Her tongue licked her lips while she touched the barrier. It wasn't more than a brief contact, but the witch must have felt the power locked in the rather harmless-looking demon woman. Her eyes went wide as she looked at our feisty red-head.

Cormel was throwing accusation at Rachel which made the young girl shift her attention from the circle back to the undead.  
"Nothing serious, he just did exactly what he said he would. He gave her the smut for two trips through the lines. Have you ever asked youself why demons always turn up pissed when summoned?" Her answer was condescending again, while her distress swept through the room.

The banshee grinned at her display of lagging control and knew instantly that Rachel was in their hands. It made me long to drive my beautiful obsidian blades through her throat. Fear came hard from our demon-girl as Al's voice reached me.

_'Damn my dame! She refused to be summoned back, and she wouldn't summon me for fear I would kill everything in the fucking room!'_ which no doubt, he would.  
_'She is right.'_ I said carefully, as a big wave of utter rage swept over me.

_'Summon me!'_ Al demanded, his voice dark and dangerous. Rachel wasn't the only one with the instincts of a mate and I sensed his will wild and untamed under all that self-control, surging to life with all vengeance of a demon scorned.

Chances were good that he would cross over without being invited, violating his summoning agreement with that. It would end with him in a bottle. I couldn't use him as breeding stock when his body was lost.  
_'This's just annoying!'_ I thought, but for my Kila I would endure a lot worse.

_'Don't you dare to jump! You won't be of any help to Rachel in a bottle! Stay right where you are and wait for her call. She needs to learn how to handle stuff without help. And if worst comes to worst, I will keep her safe!'_ I assured the raging demon.

That made him pause, calculating, analyzing, debating if he could and should trust me.  
_'Why are you doing this, Dali?'_ His voice sounded disbelieving and filled with mistrust.  
A little smirk shifted through my thoughts.  
_'I have my reasons! Take it, I'm not going to charge extra for it!'_ A slightest tickle of uneasiness moved through him before he was able to shield it from me.

_'Fine, but…'_ He was thinking about an appropriate threat … and failed _'…just don't disappoint me.'_

Al knew how powerful and vicious I could be, and he wouldn't use a threat on me he couldn't enforce. He would probably try it back-stabbing wise, using other demons to reach his goal. But it wouldn't do him any good to waste his plot in a threat.  
We both knew damn well what and who we were dealing with, so no ill-feelings.

"In short, you have to behave like a good girl." Cormel's voice entered my mind, and I opened my eyes for Al, so he could at least bear witness to the events below.

_'Behaving like a good girl? What the hell does that even mean?'_ His voice was cynical beyond believe.  
_'Don't know either. It's nothing that would stand up in a trial.'_ I was pretty sure about this, but there were no records of anyone using a term like that on a demon woman… ever. Probably because no one had survived it long enough to fill in the charges.

Rynn Matthew Cormel's pleased voice was rubbing us the wrong way.  
Something was off, and I spotted it a few moments before Al did.

_'She forgot to bargain for her safety and she stripped herself of all self defense. Silly girl! Summon me, Dali! Don't make me plead again!'_ He growled into my thoughts.

_'Stay put, you big idiot! Let her figure it out on her own! She needs to fucking learn the ropes while she is still young.'_ Al's fear washed over me and I had to distance myself from his emotions to stay calm.

_'She is going to get herself killed!'_ His scream was loud and with a snarl of my own I noted the slowly starting headache.

_'Algaliarept! I'm not a rockie! Nor am I an idiot! You will stop yelling at me this instant, or I will cross over to kick your ass before I finish off the rest of these useless creatures here.'_ My own voice started to sound dark, but was otherwise utterly dead.

He fell silent, knowing pretty well what would happened if I lost my restraint.  
_'Fine, have it your way.'_ I sensed his anger and knew he would be a deathly enemy if I managed to fuck this one up. Good thing, I wasn't going to.

The circle around Rachel fell and she was at Mina's side faster than the undead had expected. Her fingers searched for her skin, to the ire of the vampire.

"Grow up, will you? I'm not as experienced as Al," she hissed, and Cormel's desire to keep his scion among the living was stronger than his mistrust.

_'She doesn't know how to take another's smut, she doesn't even know how to force hers onto other people,'_ my son uttered.  
What the hell had he been teaching her? These were basics! Even a witch should be able to give imbalances to a familiar.

I was about to bitch at him, as I saw her reaching for his darkness. Second sight engaged, I watched his smut rubbing against her aura. Both seemed to have a moment of recognition before his demoness claimed it.  
Little threats of darkness tangled around her and she moaned with eyes closed in bliss.  
It shocked us both down to the core. Al, because she was able to do this only based on instincts, and me, because it was a pretty private matter to show off in front of strangers.  
It also was wildly erotic.

_'Dallkarackint! YOU …'_ Al had sensed it, and growled threateningly. Now, I was in trouble. I gulped and ordered my mind to ditch that thought instantly.

_'Forget it, too much trouble. It's just me remembering your mother doing the same with my imbalance.'_ This time the wave of longing and arousal was completely mind-numbing.  
Pictures and sensations spilled all over me, causing my son to go on guard. My soul was about to cry for Kila… I felt him use a curse to tolerate my loss of control, and his voice reached me.

_'Dali, get a grip on yourself, damn it!'_ Worry flowed through him, and this time it wasn't his mate he was concerned about, but me.

_'Sorry,'_ totale embaressed, I activated one of my own lust-damping curses. But at least he wouldn't assume anymore that I was approaching his mate.  
So I would live with a bit of shame on my name, it was better than fighting Al for real.

Rachel stood up and asked her two business-partners to join her for a jump. Both of us were pretty sure none of them would object.  
"Rachel, we agreed that you wouldn't take anyone from this room."

My gaze was almost burning on the undead's skin. He was violating his terms and accused Rachel in doing so. Before any of their little group could do anything, before I could sue the bastard or take his soul, Jenks screamed a warning.  
The banshee attacked and missed by pure coincidence. Al went wild on his side of the lines and I had trouble talking him out of violating his summoning terms.

"Cormel!" Rachel hissed furiously at him. But we all knew that she had given safety to everyone in the room.  
"Not part of the deal, Rachel." The undead said as if he was sorry, but it was more faked than the sincerity of a politican.

Al was halfway over to this side, since he was matching his aura to a line.  
_'Stop, for hell's sake!'_ I yelled with all power I could put behind it. My onslaught of mental energies threw him off his track long enough to witness Rachel's answer.  
_'YES, summon me you stupid bitch! DO IT!'_ he snarled, but I seriously doubted he had used those words to communicate with his mate.

"We want you to continue your research on the business of how to let vampires keep their soul after they died for the first time." Both of us stopped in our argument as this little piece of knowledge entered our brains. My own anger centered on Al.  
_'Did you know that?'_ It wasn't enough that the girl wanted to end the war between the elves and demons by restoring those bastards. No, she also wanted to mess up the balance between the weres and the vampires even more than she already had.  
Chaos was part of a demon's soul, but this was a bit too much even for a demon.  
Al was nonplussed, which was answer enough; he didn't know either.

The undead spoke further without being disturbed.  
"In exchange, we will allow your friends and family-members to remain among the living."

_'Say. WHAT?'_ My eyes burned red with the arrogance of his statement. Deathly calm centered inside of me as I parsed this. Even if he was just threatening her witch relatives, it made me angry. If I was in a clan with a would-be-father that happened to be a pixy, I sure as hell was in a clan with her blood-relatives.  
And the only ones having a right to mess with them were other family members… such as me. This wasn't exactly a law; it was not even something for the courts. Normally families took care of it themselves. Sadly, there hadn't been many families in the latest history of demon-kind.

Al fell silent as he sensed my inner tranquility. Fine, he had marked Rynn as his prey, but Mister Stupid-of-the-undead just did it. He was on my shit-list, top-position. Rarely a thing one survived, and I would rather pay reparations to Al, than letting that ball of shit escape my punishment.

"You're free to leave with that pixy of yours as soon as you agree to give that soul curse to me."

_'I so do not believe this … he tries to blackmail a freaking demon!'_ My son hissed but even his anger wasn't able to pierce through my icy calm.

"That wasn't part of the deal. I'm doing that research for Ivy, not for you. If you want that curse you'll have to buy it, like any other demon summoner"

My minds eyes centered on Al, still glowing. She was already doing research.  
The vampire had mentioned it, but only now did it make sense.  
That stupid demon-child hadn't yet mastered even the simplest basics, but she was doing research on a dangerous matter like that? Already? Hell, I was so going to kill everything in this freaking room. This time, Rachel was not an exception. Al sensed it and now he was the one talking ME down.

We got lost in our argument until the next words of the undead reached us.  
"It has something to do with your family. If I don't call up my men at the right time, they are going to finish them off. So you'd better let me make that call. You might have saved Ivy from my wrath, you might be able to protect the little fly with you, but you sure as hell can't jump to an unknown location to save your relatives."

The next moments passed by without any reaction from either of us. Words of conversation were lost in the haze which had trapped us. This was bad; killing Rynn was now off the menu, at least if I wanted Rachel to stay sane.

"How about I keep your brother alive for the next week and you give that curse to me. For each additional week of their lives, you will give a curse to me. How about it Rachel?"

Al blinked and cut our connection, probably off to break a few rules.  
As a hunter of familiars, he had a lot of focus objects in hand. He could put a compulsion curse on one of them. Compelling a summoner to pull him over was forbidden. But it wouldn't get him into nearly as much trouble as simply showing up here uninvited.

"For each refusal, one of them will die. Your brother, his soon to be wife, your mother, her new boyfriend and if this doesn't work, how about your friends." The undead was far from done. He was totally insane- hadn't he seen what Rachel was able to do? The church almost completely leveled? For hell's sake, she was a demon after all!

But she sure as hell didn't sound much like one at the moment.  
"You're worse than every demon I've ever met!" Where was her inner instinct right now? Stupid moment to grain control over it, or having it take a vacation.

"You going back on your word and Ivy will die her first death right here, right now. If you don't give me what I demand, you kill everyone you hold dear."  
Her green goat-slitted eyes found his black orbs and something seemed to give way in her. A dark growl fell from her lips, while her mind opened itself.

Again, dark threads wound around her aura. I knew that touch. It screamed database all over. If she decided to unleash the same amount of mayhem as she had in the church I was going to be pissed!  
But instead of throwing curses at random, she licked her lips and emitted sexual arousal.  
"How about I call up my demon right here, right now, and give you to him gift-warpped in paper? Remember his sexual fantasies?"

It must have been the way she said it, but the undead was only thrown off his stride for maybe three seconds before he continued down his path.  
"Rachel, neither killing nor hi-jacking me is going to save anyone. The contracts are out. And if I don't call them up in time, no one can hold them back anymore. This equals, every-one you like and love this side of the lines, dies!"

"You wouldn't dare!" She complained, sounding utterly weak, even if she were bathing the whole room in her power.

"Accept the deal Rachel. It's the only thing that will save them!"

The force she was connected to became unstable as her psyche began to crumble around the edges. I had to do something! Not ANOTHER insane female! Al was too slow, and Rachel too damn stupid to give him the easy way out.  
White fingers found her skin, and then someone started absorbing her aura. She didn't even twitch an eyebrow. I HAD had ENOUGH!  
Rachel was already halfway insane, but at least she was still among the living.

Screw that stupid son of mine, screw that vampire, and screw her idiocy. Blast them all to hell and may Bitol have mercy on their souls, because I wouldn't!

* * *

I know some of you don't like me going over the events more than once, but most of the times, there are things in the chapters what didn't happen in the other POV. I can't tell you if that stuff is going to be important in the future, but switching POVs helps me a lot to move on with the story.  
And it helps me even more to keep the conversations coherent. I strongly advice against it but who really is sick of Dali's POV, 43 is not going to be his view anymore, even if the retelling ends halfway through chapter 42.

For everyone who hates the cliffhangers, and want to know what will happen next, I'm trying to speed up my update schedule. I had been a bit busy lately.


	42. Dalis wrath

**A demoness awakens XLII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Dali / Al / Rachel / Ivy / Jenk / Cormel / the banshee / Tilly  
**Summary:** Dali just had enough and goes ballistic on Cormel's little group, which is pretty much a no-surviver guarantee. It only left us with the question, what will happen to Cormel after his chronies are dead? See which nice idea had been dwelling in Dali's mind.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XLII:_ Dali's wrath_  
**

**- Dali -**  
My will was inside the line and with cold fury I returned to my usual form. Time slowed down almost to complete stagnancy. My first targets would have normally have been the witches or other idiots who might have the power to trap a demon in a circle. But the banshee was a more urgent matter.

My fingers found her black hair before she even knew I was there. I yanked with all my demonic strength and threw her halfway across the room.  
She had no time to collide with the wall, because my blades her flesh before she reached it. She made a wet noise as the steel went through her like a hot knife through butter. Blood made red sparkles in the air. Joy from the long forgotten past came back alive. My eyes were black as my instincts got the best of me.

I could have easily gotten them back under control, but I didn't want to. This was what I desired… blood, bones, flesh and death all around me. Alive with fury, I let my wrath free of its leash.

With the only one who could have posed a real threat dead on the floor, I went for the witches next. The stupid undead didn't even realize that there was a second demon in the room. He suspected Rachel, and as result he barked a loud: "Kill him!" into his open mobile.

The last of his minions fell down to the floor in a shower of gore, light reflecting off warm liquids and wet body parts. Beautiful. Damn, I was out of people to kill, and I so ached to cut a few more. The song of the obsidian increased as the swords made their hunger for more enemy blood known.

I turned the moment I heard the noise of a shoot, expecting a new welcome target for my bloodlust. But it was just Rachel, Ivy, Jenks and the undead, plus the cell-phone.  
Rachel's face was twisted in a grimace which looked more inhuman than ever before, eyes black and fangs bared at Cormel. But she didn't attack.

No, instead she spoke a single name.  
"Algaliarept!" It was barely more than a whisper but it was nevertheless a summoning name and an invitation. Finally, he was free to join us again. Far too late, but at least he was back.

Al didn't wait for the pull to get through. He was over in this reality in an eye-blink. His hands closed around the undead's throat even before he had completed taking solid form.  
"Oh I have been dying to get you, little vampire!" The voice sounded like liquid darkness, threads of power flowed through it.

With him in this mood Cormel's remaining lifespan was withering considerably with each passing second. A modicum of my normal state of mind returned and I remembered that there was still a serious problem to be taken care of.

"Al, that little stupid has put contracts on everyone Rachel knows. If he doesn't call up the killers, they die. You kill him now, and we will never get the names of the killers he hired to do his dirty work." The song of the obsidian left my mind, as my rage dwindled.

Al though, was still furious as hell. He wouldn't give this asshole to me without a fight, I could tell.

_'I'm the patriarch of this family! Rynn Matthew Cormel offended the whole clan with his impertinent behavior. I demand custody of him, now… unharmed!'_ My mental voice was level and deathly.

He growled at me and tensed. Would he really start a serious battle with me just for the head of some worthless vampire? Picking fights over his mate, I could understand… but for that undead thing?  
Seconds ticked by in which none of us moved. Al analyzed how seriously I was taking the whole situation and came to a conclusion. His growl became even wilder, but he shoved the undead at me. With full force, I might add.  
_'Fine, have it your way… but I want results! And I want them yesterday,'_ he hissed through the communication curse.

I was too slow to avoid a collision, so both of us went down. Cormel hit the floor hard, while I reformed in a cloud of ever-after. Being a demon had its benefits. The ability to turn misty whenever someone attacked you was just one of them. I turned around to face the vampire down grinning in anticipation. If Al wanted results, he couldn't have picked a better demon to get the job done.

Cormel recovered from his ungentle meeting with the floor faster than I would have assumed. And he did the one thing I hadn't expected him to do: He attacked.  
His fingers, twisted claw-like, tried to slit my throat. A quick side-step saved me from a hurtful injury. If the man wanted a fight I would give him one. The difficult part would be to keep my temper in check that would require more effort and creativity than simply destroying him outright.

He tried to kick my lower body and I evaded it again. I was tempted to play with him, but if I interpreted the crying demoness correctly, I should be leaving this for later. Also, the control over my desires was already slipping, so I decided I would better make this one quick.  
Cormel's fist drew back for a bunch, and I spun in a tight circle to land a kick in his midriff. The air went out of his lungs as he was flung back. I didn't give him time to collect himself; instead I extended two of my fingernails into claws.  
"Contundo!" I hissed in Latin and dashed forward.

The claws penetrated his shoulder hard, while the curse raced through his nervous system. My opponent cried out in pain as his senses suffered the serious overload of the curse. We hit the wall at full speed, which broke at least one of his ribs.  
Cormel went down in a heap and convulsed like a human in the middle of an epileptic seizure. I freed my fingernails of his flesh and tasted his blood while I kicked him with grim satisfaction. The vampire landed at Al's feet, still out cold.

Slowly I walked over to them. Even Jenks, who usually had a comment for anything and everyone, remained silent.  
My fingers found the undead's hair, gray with age. I used it to pull him up, like he weight nothing, and finally gave him a shake. Cormel groaned painfully.  
"I have taken down demons more than once, before you were even born. What do you think, trying to fight me, you stupid, worthless piece of shit? You're going to drop every damn killer's name you hired or I will force curses down your throat that would even make Al pale with terror." My voice wasn't emotionless anymore. No, it was liquid darkness.

Cormel had trouble focusing on me, but I was sure he had heard enough words to know he was in a shitload of trouble.  
"Start talking… and I promise you a fast clean death." I hissed threatening.  
The undead started to struggle again. He had obviously recovered from my attack, not that it would get him anywhere.  
My lips twitched upward with utter satisfaction as he braced himself to offer resistance. This was going to be good- as long as he resisted I could bathe him in pain, and that was exactly what I desired the most.  
"Oh yes… please make me torture you." A small sniggering sound rose from my throat.  
The one that was able to give even demons the creeps.

Eyes black with longing went to Al and Rachel. The girl was still crying mindlessly, while the others were trying to convince her that her brother was still among the living.  
I couldn't care less right now.  
"Names!" I demanded with an emphasis which made it clear that this was his last warning.

"Go… and turn yourself, demon! Who are you anyway?" His comment spoken in hatred provoked an insane sounding giggle from me. I loved the effect Newt's sadistic laughing had on demons- it also worked on anything else. The room shuddered at the sound.

"Fine, fine. I have been waiting for this." My fingers left his hair and he fell to the floor, I kicked his backbone, almost hard enough to break it. The vampire screamed in pain.  
"You want to know my name, little vampire!" And again I used one of Newt's crazy giggles. Rynn twitched and tried to escape my touch. It was funny how a little insaneness made them all afraid of you, even if you were faking it. I grinned.

Al's eyes centered on me, while his worry multiplied, clearly visible to me. He was probably thinking that not only his mate had lost it, but that his father was also going batshit on him.  
I bared my teeth at him as he made a move to interfere with me.  
_'Don't you DARE to interrupt this!'_ Al stiffened at the sound of my hiss and looked even more worried, but he didn't move further.

In a blink of an eye I was sitting on Cormel's back, holding him motionless by his hair. I put a finger in front of his eyes and extended one of my claws.  
"Do you want to know that badly?" My fingernails drew his blood again, this time while I caressed his face. There was nothing gentle about it, and the undead knew it.  
"Get off of me!" he snarled while I slashed on his face, from higher left temple across his nose to the bottom of his right jaw.

"You haven't even asked about the cost…" I laughed out loud while I turned the disfiguring slash into a demon mark. He knew what it was and started fighting me.

"You can't do that … not without me agreeing to it first!" he wailed in terror.  
He was correct about this one. My action was highly illegal, but who besides Newt would dare to accuse ME? As long as I made sure he couldn't rat me out to her- and I was going to- I was safe from her.  
"Who cares? You little fucker! I'm Dali of the courts, the one who enforces the law on the other side. And you, my DEAR, violated a summoning agreement- you let a demon's name slip to a person who didn't already know it!" I grumbled near his ear.

He went taut under my hands.  
"No, I didn't!" He knew he was toast.  
"What about that little I.S officer, then?" I purred. The witch was already on the run, probably not even in the building anymore. At least one person had some brains left. Pity- I would have to hunt him down anyway, since he knew too much of this little incident.

Cormel tried to fight me off again.  
"Your soul would be Al's…" I told him, "…since you tried to kill his mate AND dropped his name. But unfortunately, for you- I, as the oldest male of this clan, have demanded custody!" I turned one of my hands to claws and lacerated his spine open.  
His cry of pure agony swept me away in a wave of sexual excitement. It was pleasing be to harm him. Oh, breaking him would be soooo much fun.

"Sadly, undead vampires don't have souls, do they?" I asked like it was a lesson in school. It sounded almost harmless, but even Cormel knew, it wasn't.

"You… know the… answer … demon!" his voice was strained with pain.  
I licked my lips, drawing them down his throat.

"But, that can be taken care of … Rynn!" My fingernails moved over his bloodied back, my mark flared alive with burning intensity.  
"I have one!"

Al was halfway to his feet, uttering an almost inaudible "No", but I ignored him. He wouldn't harm me, not with the nine marks of Newt he and Rachel owed me.

"What?" the undead asked, not getting the meaning of my little comment.

"Ever being possessed?" My teeth tore his earlobe as I bit him. He went still and lifeless.  
"No, you… can't!" He tried to push himself up, but one of my claws penetrated his flesh to sever the nerves of his arms. Defenseless as a little kitten he squirmed below me.

After this little display of my power over his body, it was time to prove my superiority over his mind. I cut the rune to take control over his thoughts right onto his flesh. A word in the old language swept over my lips and enforced the curse.  
I shut my eyes at the blissful wave of power and dove deep into him. His defenses were almost non-existent. If he would have had possessed a soul, this procedure wouldn't have been that easy, but with an undead vampire, it was child's play.

* * *

Hell on fire, I love that guy. Dali is awesome when he gets into his moods. But I'm really, really glad I'm only witnessing it in my mind, would pee my pants otherwise. ^^


	43. Making calls

**A demoness awakens XLIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Al / Rachel / Dali / Ivy / Jenk / Robbie / Alice  
**Summary:** The enemies are dead, Dali is doing something awful to Cormel and Rachel cries like mad. Al really hates the situation and has no bloody idea how to help his new mate. Jenks comes up with a rather unusually solution and so they puff up Cormel's phone bill.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XLIII: _Making calls_  
**

**- Al -**  
As if things weren't bad enough already, Dali had to go and lose it.  
His body collapsed onto his victim's screaming one. Seconds of heart-sickening panic-filled shrieks echoed back from the walls, until the undead's eyes went dull and his body lost all tention.

Cormel wasn't dying for a second time, even if it looked like that. But having a demon forcing its way in his skull wasn't going to be good for his mind either. Especially if said demon was Dali. The only option worse would have been Newt. I was pretty sure the whole procedure would leave Cormel a drooling vegetable.

Rachel was still crying, which annoyed me to no end. Between my father and my mate I had a raging desire to rip someone's fucking throat out. It didn't matter whose, as long as it gave me back the feeling of being in control. I felt helpless and I HATED that!

"Do something, Al!" the little guy complained.  
"And what would you have me do? I don't know where this place is. I also don't know where her brother is!" My finger pointed at the dropped mobile.

"Maybe hearing his voice would help Rachel- assuming that he's still alive," Ivy suggested. I doubted it would be of any help, not with Rachel in this state.  
"Do you have his number?" I asked with a slightest bit of irony in my voice. Her angry gaze made clear that she hadn't.

"Give that to me!" Jenks darted for the cell phone and kicked a few numbers.

"Who the hell are you calling, little man?" Anger made my voice sound dark.  
The pain of my mate was slipping through my mental barriers and it was wearing me down. Even smacking her in the face hadn't worked; she showed no reaction, and it worried me.

"Her mother, Mrs Morgan- she'll have-" The other end of the connection clicked in place.

"Y…es? Who's this?" a woman asked. She sounded confused, middle aged and somehow angry. Alice Johanna Morgan sounded strange through the mobile, even with the speakers on. I had gotten to chat with Alice once, for almost 12 hours, back when I wanted to force Rachel into testifying for me in the ever-after. It hadn't worked; on the other hand I still doubt that Rachel would have stolen my name without me pulling that little stunt.

"Hi Mrs Morgan, this is Jenks speaking. Sorry for calling at this ungodly hour. Can you give me the number of Robbie's mobile?" Alice thought about it, and took too long.  
I itched to jump, just to make her talk! Rachel began to tremble in my arms.

"Why do you need the number, Jenks?" She sounded for the lack of a better word... suspicious. Obviously she neither considered being awakened a few minutes from dawn nor the topic a good sign.  
"Why do you need the number, Jenks? Please, tell me the strayed bullet in the window has nothing to do with Rachel! Please, tell me she's okay?" Worry made her voice higher than usually.

Rachel reacted to Alice's voice, which made me even angrier, since she was ignoring ME just fine.  
"Mom…" she whispered and started to reach for the mobile. I intercepted her motion and took her hand in mine. Rachel didn't notice, almost as if I wasn't touching her. Hell, she was frustrating me.

"Jenks, is my daughter, okay?" Alice sounded sterner.  
"Yes, Mrs Morgan, she's okay. At least she's unharmed… not sure okay is the right term to use right now."  
"What happened?" her mother sounded on the verge of hysterics. I wanted to grab the mobile to start shouting at the poor woman to just give us the damned number, but I refrained. Yelling at mortals would hardly help my mate, and it wouldn't support me effords to keep calm either.

"Um, a lot… but the latest thing was the icying on the cake. We invaded Cormel's lair because he made Ivy bite her…" the woman cut him off.  
"Is she there? You let me talk to her right about now, young man!"

"I… don't think she can talk right now, Mrs Morgan. She's kinda having something like a nervous breakdown. We tried to talk her out of it for the last ten minutes, no reaction at all. She thinks Robbie got killed by some hitman. Cormel's hitman. Could you please give us his-"

"Wait- hitman..." she interrupted againg.  
"...how the hell… and why the hell… and , do you mean Rynn Cormel? The ex-president Rynn Cormel? Why would he do something like that?" She sounded pretty nonplussed.  
"Yes exactly… THAT Rynn Cormel. You know he took over Piscary's former camarilla, didn't you? Cormel sent Ivy out to turn Rachel into a shadow. He made it a dead-threat. She fails, she dies… sort of way. We tried to kick his ass because of it. But it went straight down the drain from the first step we set into his fucking building."

Amazingly, Alice kept silent for a few more seconds, long enough for Jenks to continue his monologue.

"He had fairies, vampires, witches… and even a freaking banshee. He summoned Al and tried to finish off Ivy with him as his weapon of choice. Lucky for us, the demon refused. But after Al got banished, Cormel told Rachel that he had put contracts on you… on you all. Her family… her friends, everyone she cares about. If she doesn't find that vampire-soul curse and give it to him on a weekly schedule he'll have his hitmen finishing everyone off."  
The young man made a pause so Rachel's mother could say something about it.

I didn't like the silence on the other end of the line. It sounded too much like shock, and we needed her responsive, not gone.  
"You still there, Alice Johanna Morgan?" I asked warningly. Like Rachel becoming a nutcase wouldn't be bad enough, it would be just my luck to have her mother going loony-toony on me as well.

"Crap on toast, boy! You sound like a freaking demon…" She pause, putting two and two together.  
"Al, is that you? And who told you my middle name… why are you there? I thought … you got banished… why are you with Rachel anyway?" At least she wasn't calling me 'demon' anymore. My mood was bad enough without being called names. Not that demon was an insult for a demon… no, but it was used as one by the mortals. And this fact was something that would tick me off greatly right now.

"Good to know you're still among the living. Easy answer, Rachel summoned me back. Sadly, too late… but better late than never. I'm trying to keep her together, but believing her brother had bit the dust isn't very helpful."

"It might help her, if she hears his voice," Jenks added as her mother said nothing.

"Or you drop me his location and I jump her over there," I suggested.

"I don't believe Robbie would like the idea of a demon-attack right after being shot at," Ivy interrupted, and got a deadly glare from me.

"Frankly, he didn't believe that shot had anything to do with him at all. Robbie has no enemies; he thought it was a gang-related gunfight. Rachel, what have you done this time?" Alice sounded sort of disappointed, mixed with fear for her children. Her whole family was in jeopardy, even her own life. The woman had a reason to be afraid.

"There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either we find out the names and locations of the killers and dispose of them. Or, and I hesitate to even offer this one… we move you all to my rooms." I left out that they were now Rachel's rooms as well. I so didn't want to drop that bomb on her mother while she was taking the hitman stuff so well.

The eyes of Ivy and Jenks went wide, but Rachel still wasn't reacting. Alice was silent for a few heartbeats until she uttered a very unpolitically, "Are you NUTS?"  
I had to laught at that question. I have asked myself that one quite a lot lately.  
"I ask myself this question about a million times a day. But there is no helping it… I think the answer is, yes. Otherwise I'm pretty unable to explain the events recently happening to me. " I was kind of disappointed that the woman wasn't even asking about the cost of the jumps, or to why I was even OFFERING my rooms as a hideout.

"I don't trust you, even if you're Rachel's mentor. You tricked her. You made her do it!" she hissed angrily.  
"Oh come now. THAT was entirely YOUR daughter's idea. SHE took my name, SHE summoned me, and SHE offered herself to me as my student…" _'even if it was only to get Trenton Aloysius Kalamack back to her side of the lines,'_ I finished the sentence in my head.  
But hell, who was I to complain about such little details; the important bit was that Rachel now belonged to me.

"Anyway, I will not let the rest of my family be as involved with demons as Rachel is," Alice voice sounded clear and angry now.  
"Assumed that you have a choice in that matter, which I seriously doubt," I mutted into the phone.  
"Say, what?" it sounded aggressive, which made me smirk. But riling up her mother wasn't what I wanted to do.

Rachel was trembling against my hold and it worried me as I felt another part of her sinking into madness.  
"Alice, lets cut this game here. I'm ordering you… no, that's the wrong way… damn I hate this! We… damn it… she… this is so fucked up! Hate me all you want… but Rachel needs your help, don't punish her for the decisions she made concerning me. If this continues any further she will end up insane. She believes her brother is dead and that it's her fault. Help me to convince her that he is still alive."

The woman was silent for a few moments.  
"Fuck, I'll be damned! You sound worried. I don't believe this! What happened to you?" Alice was astonished.

"Alice Johanna Morgan, believe me, you so do NOT want to mess with me right now! You know the saying, curiousity kills the cat, do you? But fine, I'll consider telling you more details AFTER you gave us Robbies number, and AFTER Rachel is back to normal…" I paused, then amended, "…well as normal as she usually is. Don't get any delusion; I refuse to answer any of your questions via phone, so you will have to summon me properly. Do it without a circle and have some good coffee with you. You may ask any question you want, but if I answer them is up to me."

"You… give me a circleless summoning… for free? Don't feel offended but SOMETHING here smells like rotten eggs," Alice replied.

I didn't reply, being to busy kicking myself. That was totally UNDEMON like. What the hell have I done, and where by the red dust did this come from?  
I had just given away how important Rachel was to me… something a demon should NEVER EVER do. It opens the door for all kinds of blackmail.  
_'Idiot, you're so going to get screwed over by that WITCH!'_

Her answer got my totally by surprise. She uttered a low, heavily sigh and than she spoke: "Fine, put Jenks back on the phone, I'm not giving my son's number to a demon."  
Now, it was my time to sigh. One part of me was relieved that she took the deal without gambling for more, the other half was starting to feel anxious about me having THE TALK with Rachel's mother.  
_'Great! Just great! How had I ended up being the lucky person to break the news to HER family?'_

**- Rachel - **  
Robbie… Cormel… he had been killed by Cormel. The undead had killed my brother. I should have agreed to his deal, at least then Robbie would still be among the living.  
"Robbie Morgan," a male voice cut through the haze surrounding me.  
My mind was working so slowly that it took me a long moment to realize to whom this voice belonged.

"Hello? Is someone there?" he asked. A lighting of fear and relief flashed through me.  
I was sitting upright in a blink of an eye; the next thing I knew, there was a mobile in my hands.

"Hey!" Jenks complained with his wings a blur of orange dust. I ignored him.

"Robbie… Robbie is that you?" my voice sounded weak, but I was beyond caring.  
"Rachel? Why are you calling me? Do you know it's freaking six in the morning?" He was whining, as usual. But it was completely insignificant to me. The only thing that mattered was that he was still able to say anything at all.  
"Robbie… I'm so glad. You… you're… alive?" He stopped the second outslaughed of complaints he had wanted to throw at me.

"What the hell are you talking about Rachel?" His question cut through me like ice. How the hell should I tell him that my dealings with demons got hitmen gunning for his ass?  
He would freaking kill me.  
I didn't say anything for a moment, crying with the power of my relief.

I finally settled for simply giving him orders.  
"Move… get your fiancé and move, go on holiday somewhere, anywhere. Take mum and Donald with you… and don't tell anyone where you're going." Me telling him what to do had never worked on my brother when we were kids, and nothing had changed.  
"What the hell? Rachel? Have you finally gone completely insane?"

Al grasped the phone from me.  
"Listen, boy. The gunshot this evening was not two gangs fighting each other; it was an attempt on your life. If you are wise, you will follow your sister's advice."  
"Who the hell are you? And what the hack are you talking about?" Robbie sounded pretty pissed off.

"Rynn Cormel contracted a few hitmen to kill all the people Rachel knows," Jenks piped in.

"And you are?" Robbie was starting to get annoyed as well  
"If this is a prank call I swear by the Turn you gonna regret it!"

"Stop wasting time with stupid questions, I'm Jenks. You remember? Her business-partner from Vampiric Charms." Jenks shouted at the phone and, unwilling to land on Al's shoulder, he land on mine instead. Even if they seemed to have some sort of truce, my partner still didn't like the demon much.

"Rachel… what have you done now? Why does all this crap happen to- wait Rynn Cormel, THAT Rynn Cormel? He sent hitmen after ME? WHY?" Oh, yeah, my brother was furious.

I seriously had no idea how to explain that to him, but obviously Al did.  
"Yes, that Rynn Cormel, who else? How many people are there on this goddamn planet named Cormel anyway? And stop accussing your sister!" Al hissed threatening.

"She's nothing but trouble on two legs. She's not even part of my life anymore, and look what she did to me. If you're her new boyfriend, do yourself a big favor and walk away while you still can." What an asshole. Why was I trying to save his ass just now?

"Who would know that better than me? Walking trouble, you have got NO idea." Damned asshole the second! I elbowed Al hard in the guts.  
"Ouch… that hurt!" my demon commented on my attack, more treasingly than really offended or hurt.  
"Thanks a whole lot, Al," I hissed and at the same moment those words left my mouth, I knew that it had been a grave mistake.

"Wait- you gave YOUR fucking demon MY freaking phone-number?" Robbie voice was colored with the pain of betrayal.  
"I so do NOT believe THIS! Well, thank YOU very much… SISTER!"

The line went dead. He had hung up on me. Robbie was going to call my mum, that much was for sure. He would bitch about me being a jerk, about Al being my new boyfriend, and God knows what else his mind would come up with. The worst thing about it all: he was right… at least on the part in which Al was my boyfriend. My family was about to shun me as well. All the shunning in the world wouldn't have made my mum turn her back on me. But me being a soul-mate to a freaking demon- hell, me being a demon myself- that would certainly do that trick.  
The mobile slipped from my fingers and I started crying once more.

"What in hell's name is wrong with her NOW? I thought speaking to her brother would make it better, not worse," Al snapped at my friends.

"They'll hate me." My answer came quicker than anyone else's reply. Ivy and Jenks looked as clueless as Al.  
"Hate you? And why is that? An undead's killer-brigarde is hardly your fault? Don't be silly, Rachel." His comment made me cry even harder. Al didn't even get where the damn problem lay. I didn't want to lose my family, too.

"No, not because of that! You! They will hate me because of you! And… and this!" I pointed at my eyes.  
"Not to mention the fact… that we had sex… and then all this mate stuff. They're so going to find out," I wailed.

"Then eventually, you should tell them, before they figure it out on their own." Dali's voice made me jerked my head in his direction.  
Until now I had been completely unaware of him. He was sitting on Cormel's back and was combing fingers trough the undead's hair.  
"Are you insane?" I yelled at him, but my strength was leaving me quickly. All that emotional stress was wearing me down. Al's fingers started to massage my back, and despite myself I enjoyed his touch.

"What are you going to do? Never talk to them again? Not telling them about the church, or that you moved in with Al? Conceal the fact that you have turned demon? Not show up for weddings, baptisms and funerals? Are you going to wait until the I.S, the Coven or the press tells them instead?" Dali wasn't going to let this one go easily. I hated him.

"Dali, YOU should shut up. With YOUR history… you absolutely have NO right to bitch her!" Al didn't offer any explanation, but the other demon closed his mouth with an expression like he had swallowed a bug.

Then Dali laught aloud and rose to his feet. He pulled Cormel with him. The former world-leader looked … dead.  
"No… you didn't!" I was almost to my feet when Al drew me back into his arms. I fought his hold, but I couldn't keep it up for long.

"He's still alive, even if it's just barely. The toys these days break far too easy. But I will take my leave; urgent matters require my attention now. The rest of him is yours, do whatever you like with him." And Dali vanished in a cloud of ever-after. Long seconds ticked by while I starred at the place where Dali had been standing on just a moment ago.

"He is right, Rachel. They will learn about it anyway," Al said which sort of made me me want to kill him. Slowly. Sadly, that wouldn't turn me back into a witch… proto-demon.., whatever.

"They'll shun me. I… can live with the world as my enemy, but… not with my mother turning her back on me." The crying went even worse and Al drew me in harder.

"Rachel, trust her, she's your mother. She'll get over it, just tell her and give her some time to deal with it," Jenks interrupted whatever insensitive thing Al was preparing to drop on me.

"But… but … what if… if she doesn't?" I hated the sound of my voice for being so weak.  
"Did we turn our backs on you?" He pointed at Ivy and himself.  
"We've only known you for two years; she was the one who gave birth to you. I'm sure as hell Alice isn't going to turn on you." Jenks was trying to convince me, but with Robbie's last words still hanging loss in the air, I just couldn't bring myself to believe it.

"Robbie'll never speak with me again. He knew me my whole life, too… and he… he hates me." I wailed aloud as I remembered Ivy's attempt on my life, and how Ceri tried the same. Why was everyone after my ass? Why was everyone blaming me for this, when it wasn't even my fault!

The only ones who hadn't tried to kill me since my transformation were Jenks- and surprisingly Trent.  
Even if I wasn't sure about the elf anymore, someone had warned Cormel. It was just like the sleazy bastard to have other people doing his dirty-work. The whole miserable situation screamed Trent all over. And if the vampire didn't kill me, Trent could finish this with whatever his labs were be able to stir up.

"I swear, if my mother tries to kill me too… I'll … go insane for real." Al looked me over like he wasn't so sure about my mother intentions anymore.  
I almost voiced my observation of his doubts, but I sensed a pull at my essence… it came together with a sneeze.

* * *

Some may guess it... but Rachel's family is now included in the mess. How are they going to react to the news? If Rachel really should decide to drop the bomb on their heads.


	44. The attempted murder

**A demoness awakens XLIV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Jenks / Ivy / Robbie / Alice / Donald  
**Summary:** And another summoning aims for Al. Rachel and the crew are worried, and Rachel wants to jump after him. They are in for a suprise, so lets see what happens.^^

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XLIV: _The attempted murder_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
Al's eyes fixed on mine. He was certainly feeling the pull as well. After a moment his face twisted into a grimace of utter rage. And with a loud pop, he was gone.

"What the hell was that?" Jenks asked bewildered. Ivy just looked worried.

"A second summoning this evining, that's unusual, even for Al." My voice sounded unsure of itself. Worry settled deep within me. Hadn't I suffered enough mental damage tonight?  
No, apparently not.

"Al's a busy demon," Ivy said. Her voice sounded strained with the effort not to bitch about my choices of men. She usually just spoke her mind; that she wasn't doing it right now sort of bothered me. Was it a sign of our friendship breaking apart, or an indication that she was growing up? I voted to put my trust on option number two. I could not face the former, not with the world hunting me, my brother hating me and my mother probably shunning me right now.

Al hit this side of the lines. The demon was a ball of senseless fury. It turned icy cold a second later. It worried me big time, and I desperately wanted to ask him who the unlucky bastard was that he wanted to kill so badly.

"Hey, Rache, does you mother know his summoning-name?" Jenks asked his wings a yellow blur of motion. My eyes found his and it got me thinking.  
"Yes, I gave it to her, the moment it became MY name? You don't think she wants to do something to him, do you?"  
"Your mother, against a demon…? Alice might be a bit, uh, special, but she wouldn't try to take on a demon all by herself. Besides, she didn't sound angry enough at the time we made our call," Jenks added.

"You called my mother?" I asked, a bit bewildered.

"We had to… she was the only one who could give us Robbie's number." Ivy's eyes went everywhere, but they settled on Cormel.

The undead vampire looked pretty much broken, I noted with half my brain absent. The worry about my demon's summoning kept me preoccupied.  
"Hey, Ivy, are you okay on your own? I want to jump after Al."

My roommates looked at me as if I were crazy.  
"What? The mood he was in at the moment he left… I'm more worried about the fool summoning him." Jenks gave a dismissive wink with his hand.  
"Don't you worry, we'll be all right." He took his usual Peter Pan pose and radiated self-confidence. Ivy looked totally irritated but she gave a little nod with her head, and with this small sign of acceptance I reached for a line.

Imbalance hit me out of nowhere and dropped me down to my knees.  
"The Turn take it!" I curse.  
This had never happened before. Smut out of nowhere, what the hell? And to top it off, a whole lot of it. I gritted my teeth as I had to remind myself not to resist. Whoever was doing this to my aura was freaking going to die.

Jenks was halfway to my shoulder before I disappeared on him, eager to learn more about that smut on my soul. And who better to ask then my stupid ass demon teacher?

I misted back into existence in a pre-dawn kitchen. The walls were tiled with green, white cabinets to the left, a frigde to the right, and an oven right in front of me.  
A tumult made me turn around, to see a furious Rachel pinning a woman to the wall. It cost me about two seconds to recognize the shocked woman and the shouting man in the corridor.  
"AL! Let her down! NOW!"

The demon just looked at me, but he didn't react otherwise.  
"She summoned YOU! Not ME, as we had agreed." His face was twisted in unbelievable anger.

My mother screamed, helpless in his grasp.  
My eyes leveled on Al and I growled aggressively. The freaking demon was threatening my mother, and I didn't sit well with me. First Cormel, and now Al? Not with me.

"You … dare!" a low hiss voiced my rancor. My will united with the line and I attacked him with the eerie speed of a vampire, time decelerating again.  
I gripped his arm, while darkness swept over me and pierced his flesh. The strange touch of darkness reacted instinctively to my anger, and drew blood. Whispers of unspeakable power raced through my mind, but I disregarded the voice quickly.

Al had finally done it. This was the last straw needed to make me go ballistic. His fingers let go of my mother's throat as the demon realized what my decision was when it came down to choosing between mother and him.  
I was done fooling around; all the events of the day summed up and something in me gave way. It probably was, the promise to myself never to kill a person, which went out the window; but I wasn't sure. My will formed all the hatred and frustration into a gigantic ball of ley-line energy.

Al was so puzzled at my attack that he didn't dodge it. It hit him, and his body was catapulted through the wall. He went misty as the stone collapsed around his disappearing body. The demon reformed only to have his throat seized by my fingers. Even with my demon-enhanced speed and strength, I was no match for his physical powers… and I knew it.  
If I took him on in a physical fight I would lose, but my plan was a totally different one. I just needed the skin contact to … to…

_'Rachel!'_ his voice radiated terror I couldn't understand.

Our memories blurred the edges of our beings and I saw myself through his eyes. He remembered the almost insane look on my face. And with this short realizion his past took us both.  
_  
A scream pulled me from my work. What the hell? Another elven-ambrush on our city? Distress reached me as my mate's thoughts touched mine. I had told her not to do that while I was studing, and normally she didn't go against my wishes.  
I would have ignored it, but her feelings centered on wordless fear. Something was up that could not be ignored.  
_  
I shook my head, while I tried to disentangle from his memories. I had to stay my own person. The worry he felt for his former mate made it easier for me. My mind was able to get hold on the line, preparing to roast him good.  
_'Rachel, stop!'_ he pleaded. But it was too late.

Energy erupted through my flesh, and it went straight into his. The demon screamed in pure agony. The shields, which had been protecting his thoughts for as long as I knew him, shattered as he used all the capacity of his mind to spindle the energy.  
And with that action he gave me the opening I needed to destroy him. My powers reached for the golden ball of essence that was my demon's soul. Threads formed around it and queezed.

Al started fighting for breathe as he became aware of my intentions, but instead of defending or fighting it he gave in. His mind slammed into mine like a truck had hit me.  
Now I was the one fighting for breathe. The power from the line slipped my control and something in the room exploded into nothingness.  
_  
I stared down at the earth, still unable to grasp the meaning of the scene before me. The necklace of Anijal lay to my feet, but she was gone; utterly totally gone, the connection of our souls broken. How was that even possible? Had I been just a little faster, I could have done something. But I had let her die. I had let her face Newt on her own. I could still remember the look on the queen's face as she turned around to me, laughing with insane joy. My world went gray with the pain. For seconds or for years I couldn't tell, I had knelt on the floor. As I finally came back to myself, I saw Dali standing over the remains of my mother. His face was bereft of all emotions. How could he still be this calm? His mate was gone, forever, just like mine. Nothing could bring them back. Not my mother, not Anijal. A wordless wail of complete despair rose from my throat. I wanted… to feel her again… I wanted to follow her…  
_  
Blackness came over me together with all his pain, but it wasn't only sorror anymore. No, there was a sort of ache what was starkly physical. This tweak on my awarness jerked my out of his memory. I let go of his throat, stopped glutting him with force and looked down at my chest. There still was the lingering feeling of an edged blade in there, but to my astonishment there was no wound, not even a scretch.

My eyes found Al; the demon lay still in the remains of the wall, dust colering his hair almost gray. Somehow he looked older this way. The demon was catching his breath slowly; his forehead was decorated with sweat. And he reeked of fear and despair. It made me feel sorry for him.

The fingers of my other hand still lay on his chest. I looked at him accursingly.  
"No, you… didn't…" I voiced my confusion. The rage was utterly gone, thanks to this little piece of knowledge I had just stolen from Al's past.

Al was slowly turning red with shame and a tear fell down his cheek. It obviously had nothing to do with the near-death-experience he just had. He also refused to answer my question.  
"You… made… me remember," his voice sounded weak.

Confusion took over my mind. Part of me wanted to bitch at him in a jealous hissy-fit, but the other one remembered my own pain of loss. My Dad, Kisten, and the sorrow I had felt at their passing came back alive. The older part of me won, and it kept me from doing something stupid. Sheepishly, I lost my ability to speak for a few heartbeats. My demon just locked his eyes on mine

A sheet of ever-after rose around us. My gaze skipped through the room. A man with blond curls as unruly as my own was helping my mother to her feet. The man was Tataka, the music legend- also known as Donald, my biological father.

"Rachel?" she asked, ashen-faced.  
"Mum," I whispered, as both of them took in my alien-eyes, still black from the pain and the adrenaline of the fight.

Al went misty under me and returned to his former appearance. His pain was still present, as well as his anger. It astonished me that he didn't unleash a world of hurt on me for the temerity to attempt murder on him.  
I tried not to think about what he might do once we were back home.  
_'Home?'_ I couldn't believe it, was I actually thinking of Al's rooms as HOME?

"What for the sake of the Turn, just happened here?" Takata raised an eyebrow at the pair of us, two demons trapped demons.  
"Which of them is supposed to be Rachel?" His eyes found my confused mother's.  
She looked like this performance had broken the last piece of sanity within her.

"Rachel?" she asked and sounded completely lost. She edged closer to the circle. The aura of the cirlce wasn't hers, so touching the barrier wouldn't free us.  
That meant Takata was the one holding it up.

"I told you it was a stupid idea to summon her!" he bitched quietly at her. His strong arms shook her, trying to shake her awake from whatever spell had befallen her.

"You didn't summon me, you summoned Al. Mum, I told you I had my own name back. Why did you summon Al?"

Al had obviously recovered from my attack. But even if he was dusting himself off and taking his usually calm pose, I knew he still felt sore inside.  
The demon amazed me again as he offered me his hand, to help me rise. I didn't even remember falling. Was he out of his mind, or was trying to kill each other so common in demon society that it wasn't worth mentioning? I slapped his hand aside anyway and rose on my own.

"No, he's right, I used YOUR name, why did I get him instead?" she sounded weaker than normal, and I cursed myself for not jumping after Al sooner.  
"But Al has his name b… " I complained as his mental voice stopped me.

_'She used the right name, I just took over you summons.'_ My eyes found his.  
"You DID WHAT?" I spat at him. A grin formed on his lips.  
_'Mate's privileges, aren't they a great invention.' _  
"Algali-" His hand covered my mouth.

"You don't want to tell the other witch. Even if your mother knows my name, the man with her doesn't. And I want to keep it that way." A shock ran through me as I realized I had almost dropped his name.  
Just great! I was already desperated to reduce the people knowing it… adding to them was counterproductive.

A second shock came as I remembered his threat to take my soul, should I ever consider giving it away.  
_'But, wait, didn't I already lose it when I mated with him?'_ Just THINKING such a sentence gave me the creeps. How deep went my acceptance of this?

_'What exactly are this mate privileges?'_ I refocused on the more pressing issues, one step at a time.

"How's it possible to summon a demon and get another one instead?" Takata asked, bewildered. Oh, I could pretty much imagine his terror about this little fact. It shook me to the core as well. My thoughts ran to the summonings I had preformed in my life, and I envisioned getting Newt instead of Al. A cold shudder ran down my back.

Al opened his mouth with a smirk and was about to answer this particular question, which would probably screw my remaining family-life all the way to hell.

_'Don't…'_ and someone, or better phrased something else saved my ass.  
The pull hit me hard and I sensed Al being ripped away from me. Not ANOTHER summoning…!

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What do you think about this my newest plot bunny... the little things seemed to pop out of nowhere. ^^ I have so many ideas... that I can't even write that fast ^^.


	45. Stolen soul

**A demoness awakens XLV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al / Alice / Donald  
**Summary:** And another summoning? No, not this time. Remember its dawn, and it happens what always happens with demons then. Stupidly, Ivy is nowhere to be seen, so Rachel is in great troubles. How or if she'll be able to stay this side of the lines... find out ^^.

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens XLV: _Stolen soul_  
**

**- Rachel -**  
Fire spread through my veins as the line tried to match my aura to its resonance. I fought for breathe, I fought not to match. The hell, I wouldn't go back there right now, not with my mother staring down at her daughter turned demon. They had so many questions, and I didn't dare to leave them unanswered. And again I had to fight the unwelcoming sensation the rising sun arose in me.

Memories about Ivy's silken aura on mine came up. It had protected me from the sun's revenge against demon-kind last time. But Ivy wasn't with me right now. She couldn't anchor me to this side of the lines. The agony redoubled and made me scream aloud.  
The next events ran past like someone had hit the move-forward button on a video recorder.  
Takata- or should I finally start to call him by his real name- fell on the floor right in front of me, the bubble got dispelled while he was shoved through the aura bound force. Warm arms went around me, words were spoken, but their meaning escaped me completely. Everything I could sense was pain. I wouldn't last long like that. As soon as I lose consciousness, I was going to be pulled back.

The pain dulled a bit, but it wasn't over until someone gave me his or her aura to stay this side. That at least was my suspision about the whole thing. I seriously had no idea how I had done it last time. If this time went any way like the last one, the next thing would be the line racing through my body like I belonged to it, sadly not in the good sense of the word.  
As if it had only been waiting for my mind to catch up with this memory it unleashed inside of me.

A warm hand touched my face and I felt worry beyond everything I could have imagine sweep through the room. I was still trying to spindle the energy like crazy. The warmness of the hands on my face became even hotter and more pressing; instincts took over and with it came calmness and safety, together with another person's aura which enveloped me like a blanket. The pain was gone at the same moment, while blackness wound its way into my soul- a curse's payment for not running with nature's law.

Someone dropped onto my chest. As I finally became able of breathing again, my eyes found the woman lying on top of me. Now it was my turn to worry.  
She felt lifeless, while someone tried to wrest her away from me.  
My eyes found Donald's scared gaze. He yelled at me, but my mind was still too seared from all the energy I had to spindle. I wasn't able to understand anything. His hands were on my mother's arms and with a desperated effort he tried to take her again.  
But I wouldn't let him, she was mine. Not like Al, not like Ivy, and not like anyone else, she was my mother and I wouldn't give her away… for anything.

I hissed at the man and he paused- became utterly still.  
"You're killing her, LET go Rachel!" He was freaking out, gesturing wildly like a madman.  
Whatever he tried to get my mother away from me, he never touched me. That was probably a very wise idea, since I didn't know how I would have reacted to it.

My attention switched back to my mother, fingers found her hair as I sat up. She still felt lifeless.  
"Why… is it affecting her this way? Ivy didn't… " my voice sounded lost, high and absolutely anxious. I don't know how I kept myself from losing it. Had I killed my mother?

_'AL!'_ my thoughts reached for him, desperated for advices. It didn't take him long to answer my request.  
_'Rachel, how is it possible…'_ I severed his reply and instead of using words to explain the situation, I sent the whole experience over to him. His feeling switched from light wonder to bewilderment and finally settled on horror.

_'I don't believe this… you're driving me the fuck insane, Rachel.'_ His comment wasn't doing me any good.  
_'Help me!'_ I screamed at my demon.  
_'You don't even know what you have done, do you?'_ He made a pause and answered his own damn question.  
_'No, of course not, how could you.' _  
_'AL, this is not a game… what have I done?'_ my panic raced through our bond unfiltered. He sighed heavily and instead of using words he sent his answer in one big picture.

_'Give it back and she'll survive!'_ he added helpfully. Thankfully, he had sent the how-to-give-back-ones-soul manual right together with the rest.  
I felt pretty shaken inside but for the next few minutes I had to keep it together or my mother's life would be forfeit. Why have I even been worried about the undead and his killer-brigard? I had just proved to be a hundred times more effective.  
_'Focus!'_ my demon must have felt me slipping away into mindless babble.

Donald had his fingers on my mother's neck and checked for her pulse, I doubted he would find one and it made me feel sick.  
"What have you done, Rachel?" he shouted at me.  
I gave him panic filled wide eyes in return and shivered. The last soul I had put inside my body had been one of Newt's and it had tried to take me over. My mother's soul was absolutely serene inside of me, no fighting at all. It felt so strange, nothing compared to Al's touch, nothing like Krathion at all. Was my mother glade I had taken it and that she was now a part of me.

This was so sick, and it sickend me even more that I didn't want to part with her. Was this another stupid demon instinct?  
_'She is going to fucking die, Rachel. You have to give her back her soul!'_ I tried to convince myself.

Donald chose this moment to touch my shoulder and I turned to him, which made him reel back in terror. Jumpy, wasn't he?  
"I seriously never thought it would end that way for us," he whispered, regret flowing trough his words. Was he regretting siring me?  
"Stay back!" My order sounded calm, even if my inside was everything but calm. My guts started to cramp up and my vision went gray with shock.

_'Rachel, let me in.'_ Al's plead cut through the pressure around my chest. His presents in my mind dimmed the fear enough to think through the upcoming panic attack. Without making a comment I let my demon take over the driver's seat.

Donald had obviously ignored my comment and was shaking my shoulders. The reality of the situation left me completely as I felt Al taking residence inside my flesh. Hell, it felt strange. A double-vision came with it- one of them the sunfilled kitchen, and the other was him sitting in his library with a demon text laid across his knees.

Al used my eyes to look at the witches hand, he wasn't used to be treated this way, and he obviously didn't like it much. His hand came up, and like a hundred times with me, he backhanded my biological father halfway across the room.  
"She tells you to sit by and wait… YOU do it!" he hissed dangerously.  
The blond was trying to shake off the blow. His attention went from Donald to my mother.

Her red hair was almost hiding her face, and with unusual care he swepted one of her strands behind her ear. He acknowledged the almost perfect form of her face and fantasized about what he could do to make her even more beautiful. The only question was why?  
I felt him refocusing on the given problem and with the sensation of a thousands insects crawling across the inside of my skin he picked her essence from mine.  
It might have helped that he knew how I felt inside out.

His fingers found the place of her heart and with tender care he gave it back. Life came into her slack flesh with an abruptness that shocked both our bodies in spasmatic convulsions.  
Al left my thoughts together with her soul. He returned to his own flesh. I was my own person again… but would it do me any good?  
The facts were weighting against me, I had stolen my mother's soul, and I had backhanded Donald through the room. Even if I knew it had been Al by the time of the attack, my biological father didn't know that.

The seizures dimmed and my mother rose to sit beside me. Her hands found my face and she stared into my eyes.  
"Rachel?" she asked and sounded mild and forgiving. Was she insane, I had just stolen her soul and she seemed to love me nevertheless?  
It was the feeling of utterly serenity and love I sensed from her, which gave me the strength to look into her eyes. Was this how implicite trust felt like?

I was a demon for crying out loud, how could she simply accept that? I couldn't.  
Her arms went around me as she started to weep, while she started to stroke my back.  
"I'm sorry…" she said still calm.

Donald was a whole other story, he hadn't spent his whole life with me, and he knew what I had done. To top it of he was a lot saner than my mother.  
"She stole you soul! Have you seen her eyes… she is a demon. And that freaking Kalamack told us that this is impossible! She should have been a witch!"

Even if he wasn't my REAL dad, the one who raised me and died as I was 13, it hurt to hear him speak about me like that. My mother raised her head and looked at him.  
"Shut up, Donald. Don't you see that she's suffering?" Her voice sounded angry.

"Are you insane? She took your soul! You could have died!" Slowly the warmth returned to her skin. It pierced through the icy walls of shock and suddenly I started to cry as well.  
"I'm sorry, mum. I didn't know… I … I." Even my thoughts refused to make any sense.  
"I know, Rachel. I know, you never meant to take it. You gave it back. Everything is fine!" This was confidence only a mother could manage to have.  
With her strength at my side I could finally break down and weep all I wanted, positive someone would understand me.

Her fingers traveled through my curls while she started humming a good night's song from my childhood. You wouldn't believe how good it felt to have her protecting me once more.  
"Alice, please she's dangerous." Donald tried to talk her out of it. But I didn't care, my mum was here, and she wouldn't turn on me. And with that thought the whole day bitch-slapped me over and I was asleep in two seconds flat.

* * *

Thanks for all your favs and comments, it really is a joy to know that so many people like this fiction. ^^


	46. Taking calls at night

**A demoness awakens XLVI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Alice / Robbie / Jenks / Al / Donald  
**Summary:**Just gone to sleep, with your boyfriend right next to you. Everything was totally fine. But then someone calls you, in the middle of the morning, and you life seems to take a left turn all at once. How is Alice going to take it all. Throw a glance behind the scene.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XLVI** : _**Taking calls at night**_

**- Alice-**  
I had been asleep for two hours as the damn phone started ringing and woke me up. I turned over, debating with myself if it was important enough to pick it up.  
My dozy eyes went over to the shadow beside me. I nuzzled deeper into the warmth Donald offered me and decided to let the maschine pick it up.

"Hi mum, this is Robbie speaking. I've got some news you might want to know. The cops are coming over to pick me up for statement. I was out shoping and someone shot the window beside me. The bullet must have missed me by inches! I'm going to file a charge for attempted murder. Damn gangs- hope the bust that damn kid's ass."

"Robbie, are you okay?" My voice sounded sleep-drunk and way too high. But who could blame me, I was his mother and my heart beat like crazy as I imagined losing my only son to a stray bullet. Constantly worrying about my daughter was bad enough. Was Robbie starting to have a life like hers?  
_'Dear God, please nooo. Don't do that to me, it would kill me.'_

"Yes mum, I'm fine, just scared half to death and pissed to the ends of the world. I already gave Cindy a call. I bet it's some stupid gang fight… again. They're fighting all the time." That was exactly the reason why I didn't like the district he had chosen to live in. Robbie knew how I felt about it, and voicing it for the umpteenth time wouldn't change his mind. Sometimes I ask myself who of us three was responsible for our children being so stubborn. Rachel wasn't any better. To be honest, she was a LOT worse.

"Why the hell can't they leave us decent people alone?" he practical hissed into his phone. I quashed the need to bitch at him, but I couldn't help the annoyed sigh that came out of my mouth.

"Don't start again, mum. I know you hate the place I live in. We'll move as soon as the marriage is done, but until then I don't want to be complained at. I just called to tell you that I'm okay and I thought it'd be better if I filled you in. Because Cindy … well you know her, she and panic don't mix. Well, I'll get back to you after the cops have taken my statement. Bye, mum." And the line went dead.

My eyes went waterly. What would the cops say to this? I knew with absolute certainty that I couldn't go back to sleep now. And I needed to talk about this call, had to voice my worries or I would go insane. My gaze shifted over to Donald. He was still sleeping like a little kid. How the hell could he still be asleep after all that talking? I was about to wake him up, when the phone rang for a second time.

I quickly scanned the callers ID, the the display showed an unknown number. Concern took over. Whoever this was, it could be about Robbie. I should better take it. I wasn't sure if it were the cops telling me a second bullet had hit Robbie or just some straw poll company asking for my opinion on something. It better not be the later… or I was going to be busying myself with some serious earth magic in the kitchen. Even if I was a white witch, I wasn't above teaching those advertisers a painful lesson to leave me the hell alone.

I took the call, voice as neutral as I could force it to be.  
"Y…es? Who's this?" I asked.

"Hi, Mrs Morgan, this is Jenks speaking." My heart threatened to stop.  
"Sorry for calling at this ungodly hour. Can you give me the number of Robbie's mobile?

Jenks was my daughter's partner and backup. He also was a four inch pixy and father to fifty-something children. Latest news I had had of him had been that his wife had died while the clan was defending their I given him my condolence, but after the call I had just received, my throat was suddenly too dry to get the words across. I had met Matalina a few times, but even if the time I spent with them had been short, I knew they loved each other with all their hearts. It made me incredible sad, to hear about her passing.  
My husband had died 14 years ago, but it still hurt like hell to think about it. I could imagine just fine how Jenks must be feeling right now. But even with that awareness I couldn't voice my condolences, because it would reopen his wounds- it would make him remember his loss even more, and I simply couldn't do that to him right now. I would do so in person, next time I see him.

Worry settled behind my breastbone. Why was he calling? What did he need my son's number for? Rachel had to have his number, so why wasn't he asking her? Did something happen to Rachel?  
_'Please let her be okay.'_ I looked through the window at the sky. Predawn collected in grey and dark blue strips on the horizont. Had she been summoned again? But what did my son have to do with that? He would never, ever think about summoning her. And as far as I was informed, he didn't even know her summoning name.

Rachel was always trying to keep all the problems away from me, but it never worked out. I had seen her on TV just last week, naked as Eve in the Garden of Eden. I witnessed her speech against the Coven leader Oliver. I knew she was shunned but I still couldn't warp my mind around the fact that the Coven was actively gunning for my daughter. Especially up to an extreme where they would use a demon name to summon her.  
It made me angry that I couldn't go and fight those assholes. It wasn't my daughter's fault- destiny got her involved with demons, and now she was so entangled in elf and demon-business that the witches have declared her a threat to the wellbeing of all inderlanders.

Maybe Robbie had called her. Yeah right… hard to imagine, as they were currently not speaking with each other. Robbie was pretty pissed about Rachel's appearing naked in front of the media, let alone her being shunned for dealing with demons.

My heart started hammered at twice its normal speed. Something else had to be wrong.  
"Why do you need the number, Jenks? Please, tell me the stray bullet in the window has nothing to do with Rachel! Please, tell me she's okay?" I asked the pixy with suspicion in my voice.

He paused for a second too long and it made me almost crazy with fear.  
"Jenks, is my daughter okay?" If he was playing a prank on me I was going to freeze his dust to his tiny ass.

"Yes, Mrs Morgan, she's okay. At least… she's unharmed… not sure okay is the right term to use right now." I took a deep breath while I tried to control the rising surge of worry. What the hell did he mean by 'Unharmed but not okay'. It was almost what I yelled into the receiver. But I needed information more than an outlet for my emotions. They would get their attention later, with all the screaming and crying required.

"What happened?" Even with all my willpower backing me up, I was unable to keep the panic from my voice. It wouldn't do me any good if the tiny man wasted our time having to calm me down.

"A lot… but the latest thing was the icying of the cake."  
_'The ICYING! Worse than being student to a demon, worse than being on the Coven's hit list… what the hell could be worse?'_ Did I really want to know the answer to this question? Definitively YES, I had to know.

"We invaded Cormel's lair because he made Ivy bite her…"

This time I was pretty sure my heart skipped a beat. I knew that Ivy had bitten Rachel once or twice before, but why the hell would an undead make Ivy bite Rachel? And the reaction of the three was a run against an undead's lair?  
_'And they call ME crazy?'_

Rachel was having enough trouble with the Coven and the demons, but instead of cleaning up those messes first, she goes straight ahead to make a new mess with the vampires. Was she NUTS?  
_'Guess it runs in the family.'_

I had to know, and I wanted to hear it out of her mouth. She was going to get her ass grilled, right about now. This lifestyle was going to get her killed, and it was going to take me along for the ride. Losing my husband had been bad enough; I doubted I could survive one of my children dying before I did.  
"Is she there? You let me talk to her right about now, young man!"

"I… don't think she can talk right now, Mrs Morgan. She's kinda having something like a nervous breakdown. We tried to talk her out of it for the last ten minutes, no reaction at all. She thinks Robbie got killed by some hitman. Cormel's hitman." Jenks said.  
Not only wasn't it making any sense, but a HITMAN? From CORMEL? Why in hell's name was a hitmen after Robbie's life? And what was Rachel's role in all that?

"Could you please give us his-" I interrupted the pixy's speech.  
"Wait- hitman… how the hell… and why the hell… and…" my thoughts paused.

_'CORMEL? THAT Cormel? It can't be.' _  
Why was my daughter so likely to piss off the high and mighty? She started by pissing off the the I.S.- they're like the mafia, once I.S. always I.S. Rachel proved them wrong- then moved on to Trent Kalamack, a few weres, Piscary, a demon named Al, a few humans, and the Coven. And now she had added the freaking vampires to the list… not to mention a whole bunsh of politicians who were still in league with the ex-president!  
"So you mean Rynn Cormel? The ex-president Rynn Cormel? Why would he do something like that?" I couldn't imagine the charismatic man putting a hit out on anyone, let alone my son. As far as I knew my son had never crossed his path.

"Yes exactly… THAT Rynn Cormel. You know he took over Piscary's former camarilla, didn't you? Cormel sent Ivy out to turn Rachel into a shadow. He made it a death-threat. She fails, she dies… sort of way. We tried to kick his ass because of it. But it went straight down the drain from the first step we set into his fucking building."

As a matter of fact, I KNEW he had taken over that camarilla- it had been a big headline in the newspapers. I listened to the rest of Jenks speech… and was astonished.  
There had been pictures of Cormel all over the news as he moved to Cincy, but he looked like the friendly neighborhood politician. Nothing about him gave away what Jenks was currently accusing him with. I just couldn't believe it.

"He had fairies, vampires, witches… and even a freaking banshee. He summoned Al and tried to finish off Ivy with him as his weapon of choice. Lucky for us, the demon refused. But after Al got banished, Cormel told Rachel that he had put contracts on you… on you all. Her family… her friends, everyone she cares about. If she doesn't find that vampire-soul curse and give it to him on a weekly schedule he'll have his hitmen finishing everyone off."  
The pixy had lost me. Everything he had just told me massed together into a ball of incomprehensibly babble.

A voice reached through the white static noice, which had gathered in my mind.  
"You still there, Alice Johanna Morgan?"

I blinked a few moments. The voice sounded male, but it wasn't Jenks, and I didn't recognize to whom it might belong.  
Where the guy had learned my middlename was also an unsolved mystery to me, but he should probably work on his manners…  
"Crap on toast, boy you sound like a freaking demon…"

Parts of the former conversation with Jenks came back to the front of my head, and I sucked in a gulp of air as I suddenly grasped who was on the other end of the line.  
"AL, is that you? And who told you my middle name…?" Rachel wouldn't give away my middle name, and it wasn't in the records. And since when did demons use cell phones? I tried to picture the demon with one and failed. The image was so ridiculous that I almost started to giggle.  
"…why are you there? I thought … you got banished…" why was he back this side of the lines, did someone summon him back here?  
"…why are you with Rachel anyway?"

Suspicion rose in me. Normally he made her cross over to his side of the lines, to teach her… whatever a demon would teach his student. I meticulously avoided the thought of what that might entail. But it begged the question of why the hell he would come to reality, and was still here. It It wasn't even Saturday.

"Good to know you're still among the living. Easy answer, Rachel summoned me back. Sadly, too late… but better late than never. I'm trying to keep her together, but believing her brother had bit the dust, isn't very helpful," the demon said, and even managed to sound concerned about it. But I knew him; he had been wearing my husband's face the first time I had met him. His acting was good, and to say I wasn't buying that ball of crap he was holding in front of me was the understatement of the century.

"It might help her, if she hears his voice," Jenks voice added and my eyebrows rose. Since when did the pixy played along with the demon's mind-games? It really was odd for the straightforward man. I blinked and waited for more.

"Or you drop me his location and I jump her over there." The demon sounded fucking serious… as did Jenks. But having Big Al jump into a police station with a shunned witch in tow would probably end up in an even bigger disaster than Rachel's normal actions. And I didn't think Robbie would like it much either.

"I don't believe Robbie would like the idea of a demon-attack right after being shot at," a female voice added. I recognized it as Ivy's. So the whole firm was there. An inofficial run against Cormel. I shook my head. This was only something only these three could come up with. How the demon was fitting into this picture was still a mystery to me. But I would figure that one out very soon.

"Frankly, he didn't believe that shot had anything to do with him at all. Robbie has no enemies; he thought it was a gang-related gunfight. Rachel, what have you done this time?" I really hoped she would tell me what the hell was going on. Jenks, Ivy and the demon were talking with me, but my own daughter kept silent. That was really unlike her. It worried me.

"There are two possible solutions to this problem. Either we find out the names and locations of the killers and dispose of them." Al's voice was way to calm for a suggestion like that. What was he suggesting after all? Killing the killers? Sounded pretty much like something a demon would do. There had to be another way to get them off our backs.  
"Or, and I hesitate to even offer this one… we move you all to my rooms."

I blinked confused. Had he really just suggested that? Moving all of us… the complete family of Morgans, plus Donald… to the ever-after? I gaped at the wall, speechless. This was the most screwballish idea I had ever heard from anyone! I asked the only thing that came to my mind.  
"Are you nuts?"

Was he out of tricks to grain more control over my daughter's life, so that he had to come up with THAT? Yeah right… if he really believed I would let him get away with that, he had another thing coming. Did he honestly think we were so stupid? Walking right into a trap! It had to be one. And I didn't even want to know what he might charge to get through with his bullcrap idea.

The demon regarded me with a laugh that sounded pretty humorless.  
"I ask myself this question about a million times a day. But there is no helping it… I think the answer might be yes. Otherwise I'm unable to explain the recent events, otherwise." Was I imagining things or did he really sound sort of beaten?  
What was able to make a demon sound like that? It sure as hell had something to do with Rachel. If anyone could wear down a demon, it would be my Rachel. And that could only mean more trouble for her. I sighed.

"I don't trust you, even if you're Rachel's mentor. You tricked her. You made her do it!" I wanted to hear him admit it. But no such luck, instead I got the total opposite.

"Oh come now. THAT was entirely YOUR daughter's idea. SHE took my name, SHE summoned me, and SHE offered herself to me as my student…" His harsh words echoed through my head and I had to disregard them to refrain from screaming insults at him. I would rather die than give my family over to a demon.

"Anyway, I will not let the rest of my family be as involved with demons as Rachel." He should be thanking whatever Gods demons were serving that I had no choice about Rachel. I couldn't forbid their meetings, since they had a standing agreement. If I talked Rachel out of it she would lose her soul to him. And as much as I loathed the demon, I couldn't bring myself to risk my daughter's safety.

"Assuming that you even have a choice in that matter, which I seriously doubt," he said. It was quiet, but still articulated in a way one could hear.

For a few seconds my mind went blank. I blinked again.  
_'Having a choice in that matter … what the hell is he talking about?'_ Al sounded like he could force himself onto us. And as if it was the funniest thing on the world. But I wouldn't let him do that. The only thing he achieved was making me even angrier at him.  
"Say, what?" I practically screamed into the receiver. I wanted him to explain what he meant.

"Alice, lets cut this game here."  
_'A game?'_ He saw all this all as a game? It surely wasn't one for me. The demon was really pissing me off. Before I could yell at him he continued speaking. Self-centered son of a gun, like I had nothing to say to that!  
"I'm ordering you…"

_'Ordering ME? Yeah like hell you are. Like to see you try demon fucker'_ I sucked air into my lungs, preparing to fling that in his face, but again he was faster.

"…no, that's the wrong way…" My eyebrows rose, what the heck…?  
"…damn I hate this!" I couldn't believe this. I had a demon babbling at me, right through the phone. Five thousand years and counting, and he was babbling like an idiot. What was wrong with HIM? I had no damn idea. This time I let him continue speaking, having to admit I was being curious as to where this was leading.  
"We…" he added, and paused.

_'We? What does he mean with that? Who in hell's name is… WE?'_ Was he speaking about Vampiric charms… us all… or did he mean especially Rachel? My guts were starting to cramp up. What if he was using the term WE- which sounded completely wrong coming from a demon- in combination with Rachel? The room suddenly felt a 100 degress colder.

"…damn it… she…" First, it was now official, he was batshit, and second… 'she' refers to a single person, so he truly meant 'we' as in 'Rachel and him'.  
Sudden nausea came up with the fear, which was suddenly a thousand times worse than before. I didn't want him using a 'we' in connection with my daughter. Why was he doing that anyway? What had Rachel done NOW?

_'Oh, pleeeeaaassseee, tell me she didn't do that! Please, please, pretty please. Holy mother of Christ, please… tell me she isn't bumping the uglies with a demon!'_ Her previous choices for boyfriends were bad enough without adding a demon to the mess.

"…this is so fucked up!"  
_'You have no freaking idea what I'm thinking right now, demon.'_ It might be a first, but I agreed with him. This was TOTALLY fucked up six ways to Sunday.

"Hate me all you want… but Rachel needs your help, don't punish her for the decisions she made concerning me." That made me pause. Al was ASKING for my help?  
Okay, saying he wasn't doing a good job was an understatement, but he was asking all along. A demon Asking. That had to be a first.  
Decisions concerning him? Oh, hell, I didn't like the sound of that.  
It gave me the feeling of being right all along… Rachel had something going on with the demon. Rachel AND the DEMON? Seriously, that was impossible. How many times had she complained about him, and insisted how much she loathed him?

"If this continues any further she will end up insane. She believes her brother is dead and that it's her fault. Help me to convince her that he is still alive."

God, no… he was asking for HER. Not for himself. Okay that might be a nice change in his character, but it only made my suspicion about the boyfriend issue worse.  
I almost blurted out the question of whether he'd had sex with my daughter, but he was asking me for help. And I really didn't want to hear a possible 'yes' from him. If someone dropped that anvil on my head it should be Rachel. I would ask her first chance I got.

I pulled my thoughts back to the demon on the line, who was still waiting for a response. What could I say that didn't make his sex-life the main topic? Oh yeah, right, he sounded gloriously worried- concerned for another person's well-being. Bet that was the first time ever in his life.  
Maybe I should focus on that.  
"Fuck, I'll be damned! You sound worried. I don't believe this! What happened to you?"

"Alice Johanna Morgan, believe me, you so do NOT want to mess with me right now!" His voice was dark and threatening. But I had the upper hand, for once, and we both knew it.  
He wanted my help… and he was so going to pay for fucking my daughter… if I was right, anyway. Maybe I was just chasing shadows on the wall.  
"You know the saying: curiousity kills the cat, do you? But fine, I will consider telling you more details AFTER you gave us Robbie's number, and AFTER Rachel is back to normal… well as normal as she usually is."

I stopped breathing.  
Was I considering making a deal with a demon? I hadn't summoned him, he was not in my circle, he was not even present in the room, but hell, yes, it sounded pretty much like a summoning agreement. Dangerous and way too easy- just the way life loves to fuck you over.

"Don't get any delusion; I refuse to answer any of your questions via phone, so you will have to summon me properly. Do it without a circle and have some good coffee with you. You may ask any question you want, but whether I answer them is up to me." Now I was utterly nonplussed. He couldn't be serious! Al wanted to be summoned, and he wanted me to trust him outside of a circle. Did he really believe I was totally batshit? Summoning him without a circle- or at all? Yeah sure, and pigs could fly.

"Are you… giving me circle-less summoning…?" I asked anyway, it was always good to know where you stood. Good thing, I knew about the previous agreement of Rachel summoning Al without a circle, or I would never have believed he actually meant it.  
"For free?" I added, just to make sure.  
Not that I was tempted to go for his offer- the whole thing was reeking to the heavens.  
"No offense, but SOMETHING here smells like rotten eggs."

There was so much more I wanted to tell him, but suddenly the reason for this call came back to the front of my head.  
_'Robbie's number! The hitmen! Cormel!'_ If a demon was going out of his way to ask for my help, I should probably go with that plan, especially given that he was trying to keep my Rachel sane.  
"Fine, put Jenks back on the phone, I'm not giving my son's number to a demon." That was my finale word. To my surprise the demon went for it without offering another word. Angrily, I noted he hadn't even thanked me. Arrogant asshole!

I gave Jenks the phone number.  
"Thank you Mrs Morgan," Jenks said and the line went dead.

I found Donald's watching me with sleepy eyes.  
_'Finally awake?'_ The thought made me flash a worried smile at him.  
"What's up? Is it Rachel again?" I looked him in the eyes.  
"No, not exactly, it's both of them." My current boyfriend sat up and hugged me to his chest. Only now I became aware of my trembling.  
"What happened?"

"Robbie called because some gang kid shot the window beside him. Then Jenks called and told me that Rachel and her firm made a run against Cormel… and yes, that Cormel… the vampire ex-president. Turns out that it wasn't a gang member, but a hired hitman. We're about to be hunted down my killers for some vampire-related curse I didn't half understand. I only got that the killers are connected to something Rachel did. And by the way, I think Rachel has something going on with the demon. Donald… I'm worried sick."

Donald didn't say anything, though his eyes went wide. His warm hands circled my back and he tried to give me comfort as best as he could. Which of the truths I had just dumped on him caused that reaction was beyond me. It could be pretty much anything. And I had to admit it was a bit much to take in all at once.  
Restlessness swirled through my thoughts; sleep was out of the question now. I rose from the mattress.

"Where do you thing you're going?" he asked, a bit irritated.  
"Down to the kitchen, I'm gonna make coffee." His eyebrows rose in concern.  
"It's six in the freaking morning. You'd better try to sleep." I eyed him over, laughing humorless about his last comment.

"Yeah sure. Sleep? My son is about to be assassinated, and my daughter is probably bumping uglies with a demon. Well, when she isn't picking fights with master-vampires, that is. I don't even know what I should rang higher on my this-is-the-worst-thing-you-can-ever-do list! And you want me to sleep… right now? Good one, Donald. I'll be lucky if I can even so much as THINK about sleeping ever again!"

Donald sighed and rolled his eyes at my outburst.  
"Alice, calm down. Everything is going to be fine. I'll make a few calls to my security agency. You know, the ones who usually work security at my concerts. They'll know what's the best thing we can do concerning the killers, and after this we'll take care of this Rachel-and-the-demon-thingy you're worried about. I'm a hundred percent sure there's a reasonable explanation for everything."

Damn, he was right. I should stop automatically assuming the worst when it came to Rachel's choice of men.  
Nick was nice as long as it lasted, but I would never have expected him to be a wanted thief. Kisten was a great choice, but he got himself killed and left my Rachel almost as heartbroken as Monty's death had left me. Marschal was a witch, which had raised my hopes for grandchildren, but he had left as soon as he had heard that Rachel got herself shunned. Pierce… well, that fellow was also a witch, but a once-death one. Reanimated by some demon curse… and I sort of didn't trust the man.

But surely one day she would find the right man for her. Someone who wasn't a liar, someone who was strong enough not to get killed on her, someone who would stay even if she ran through the worst of troubles, and someone she could trust. I just hoped Al wouldn't try to stand in his way.

I left the bedroom and went down the stairs, heading for the kitchen. Donald grumbled something pretty obscene behind me, but at least he was out of the bed and helping me to cope with my inner struggles.

* * *

I rewrite the whole chapter a few times until it suited my taste. Finally it's done in a way I like it.  
Never thought I would do her PoV but after I tried writing her thoughts it just all fell into place. I even had to change a few conversations in **making calls** because they suddenly seemed a lot more unlogically.  
It gave me a big clue about her mindset ^^.


	47. The wrong demon

**A demoness awakens XLVII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Alice / Robbie / Rachel / Al / Donald  
**Summary:** It looks like Alice will have a sleepless day. She wents down to the kitchen for coffee. Donald is absolutely displeased with being along for the ride. But the calling doesn't end her, because Robbie calls again and is everything but nice. Alice makes a fatal decision. Whoever asked themselves which demon she really summoned... this is the chapter to find out certainly^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens XLVII :** _**The wrong demon**_

**- Alice-**  
We made it barely down to the kitchen as the phone rang for the third time this morning.  
This time Donald took the call since I was currently filling a pot with water to make some serious strong coffee.  
"Donald speaking." Silence for a few moments.

"Say that again!" He ordered and I pried the phone out of his fingers. He wasn't fighting me. I got the speakers running before I listened to the other end of the conversation.  
"Rachel gave my number to her DEMON. She SOLD me out… can you believe that?"  
Shame was coloring my cheeks red, and I sighed.  
"Robbie, listen…"

"No, you're gonna listen now. Her fucking addiction for thrills got a killer on my ass. Can she think of anything else but her own self for once! I've got a family. I can't affort this sort of lifestyle. If she likes it, fine with me, but she should keep us out of it." My son sounded furious.

"I didn't give the demon the number, I gave it to Jenks." It probably wasn't the wisest thing to tell him now, but I didn't want him that angry at his sister. I was a mother after all, and if they were fighting each other, I had to interfere. It was so deeply programmed into my brain that I couldn't do anything about it.  
"You did what? Why? Mother…" It sounded accusingly.

"They asked, Ivy, Jenks and even the demon. And for a demon it sounded pretty desperated," I added.  
"Great, Rachel goes off to screw a freaking demon, and you're gonna support it. Again, always supporting her stupid ideas… if you had taken better care of her she wouldn't have joined the I.S. in the first place and she would have had something resembling a decent life, now." He bitched at me.

My knees turned to jelly and I had to sit down. Donald swept a tear from my cheek.  
"Robert Lorenzo Morgan… you will stop speaking to your mother in this manner instantly." Donald almost hissed at his son.  
"Now, of all times you try to play daddy! Where have you been all our lifes? Off touring the world as Takata, while our mother was fighting the aftermath of her husband's death. Very brave of you, hope you're proud of yourself! Know what… screw you… screw ya all." He hung up and silent encuffled us.

I hadn't said a word for minutes, while Donald poured me a cup of coffee. My eyes looked into the dark depths of liquid, almost as if it would give me advices about what I should do.  
"Do you really think she is… well … with that demon?" Donald asked, busying himself with cleaning up the dishes. I shook my head. It couldn't be. I so hoped my intuition was wrong, at least this once, even if my hopes weren't all that big.

My eyes moved over the window… a few minutes until dawn. I looked back at Donald and rose from my chair. The mug was empty in one quick go.  
"I'll summon her. I don't want these answers from the demon. I want to hear it from my daughter and I want it now!" He raised one of his eyebrows.

"I this is the stupidiest idea you ever had!" Donald remarked, and was probably right about it. But I didn't want to hear that.  
"Might be, but otherwise I'm not able to tell if she's talking truth. Besides, I'm worried sick about her." At least the shivering of my hands was gone after I had made up my mind.

"Alice, what if the demon comes along with her?" An almost sadistic smile curled over my lips. I lifted my arm and pointed at the lightening sky of the approaching morning.  
"According to Rachel, the lines are closed to summoning for the daylight hours. And demons get pulled back when the sun rises." Donald tried to suppress a sigh and failed misserable.  
"I know where she got her nasty temper and her hangs for the thrills from." He grinned at me, but to say I didn't find it funny would have been an understatement.

"If you feel saver in a bubble you can always use the one in the hallway. I'll be fine." His eyes widen.  
"Pass this by me again. You attempt a summoning WITHOUT a circle?" Donald sounded pissed off.  
"I don't need one, not for my own daughter… and the other demon wouldn't appear in my circle anyway… unless I summon him. And I sure as hell don't intent to summon a real demon… ever." I gave him my best don't-worry smile.  
It didn't work, but Donald knew how I could be then it came to my children; a heavy sigh lifted from his lips and he got himself a third mug of coffee.  
"Yell for help if you need any." He left the kitchen, probably searching the house for a weapon to kill a demon with, sadly, as far as I knew, something like that didn't exist.

I downed my second cup and reached through my familiar to the line. Karla was an old grey cat but she was beautiful and strong. Slowly I pulled the energy into my chi, will gave the magic form. My eyes made a quick skip over the surrounding area, since I had to make sure that no one caught my daughter's summoning name.

"Jariathjackjunisjumoke, I'm summoning you!" Unbelievable, who would have ever thought I would use that name for its intended purporse.  
The magic got hold on reality and I felt a pull in my middle. It was weak but present, nevertheless. Was this how a demon summoning felt like? Luckily, I didn't need a circle for Rachel, since I sucked at everything that involved ley lines.

A red cloud of mist appeared in my kitchen, I was actually surprised that I had enough skill, to make this work. I was the earth witch, in our family.  
Rachel took form and looked at me. But the way her eyes centered on me, gave me a really shitty feeling. Something went wrong! Like I had gotten someone else instead, somebody who wasn't my daughter, something like a demon!  
"Rachel?" I asked irritated.  
A sadistic smile appeared on her lips. This wasn't looking good.

"Alice Johanna Morgan… who would have thought- you summoned a demon," she clapped her hands. The sweetness of her voice didn't give away a hint of astonishment, like it was totally normal to get summoned. And since when was Rachel referring to herself as a DEMON`?

Everything about this situation felt wrong. I retreated one step at a time. Slowly, I inched in direction of the hallway. Donald had to be there, if anyone could help me it was him. He could probably trap the thing that was looking like Rachel; put it in a circle and banish it to the ever-after. I was pretty sure I had done everything according to the instructions Rachel had given me once. And I had used the right name!  
Rachel told me she got hers back a few days ago. So it wasn't possible that I had accidentially summoned the wrong person… uhm demon. But even though I had used her name, this thing in my kitchen couldn't be her. It only left one other alternative… it had to be the demon- the one who was holding her name for half a year, Algaliarept.  
_'Crap, I'm toast.' _

The demon's lips drew back from white teeth and his fingers closed around my throat. Panic filled my thoughts. How was I going to survive this?  
"Al… galiare… pt?" I asked and the affirming smirk on its face reinforced my suspicion. Damn it all back to the Turn. Why was the demon in my kitchen?  
"Yes, Alice Johanna Morgan?" he whispered into my face.

"Why… are you here?" The hold of its clothed fingers around my neck grew stronger.  
"Haven't you agreed to summon ME?" His breathe was warm on my ear and it sent sudders of utter resentment through me. My fingers found his hand and tried to pry it off my skin.  
"You… promised me safety without a circle…" I complained.  
"Yes, I did. But it doesn't apply then you summon the wrong demon." His arm lifted me off the floor like I was weighting nothing. What the hell was going on?

I started kicking and screaming. The demon was about to kill me, no doubt. I should have had listened to Donald. If we had used a circle like all good summoners do, Al wouldn't be holding me inches above the ground, the wall at my back.  
My kitchen became a blur in my vision. The only thing that could still save me butt was dawn.

Donald rounded the corner to the hallway, and a female voice thundered through the room. Black stars were dancing in my vision as I fought for air.  
Strangled by a demon in my own kitchen, everyone in my family had expected Rachel to end like that. That I was the one who would end that way first… was ironical.  
Robbie was going to be pissed.

I hit the floor hard as the demon's steel-like fingers left my bruised throat. Donald was helping me into a sitting position and hugged me tight, as I swallowed the first few breaths like a drowing man.  
"What the hell," he whispered and faced the tumult in my kitchen.  
A cloud of dust surrounded two silhouettes. One of the walls had collapsed. Darkness swirled through the white mist, and made the whole scenery even more unreal.

"Two Rachels… what have you done, Alice?" The look on his face showed utter bewilderment. After a few deep breaths my brain was back to working normal.  
"One… must be… the demon." I coughed, and even whispering hurt.  
"The… demon." His eyebrow rose accusingly.  
"Al… Rachel's mentor." My throat was one big lump of agony.  
"Oh great…" Donald wanted to say more, but a snarl disrupted his upcoming verbal outslaught.

Both of our heads jerked into the direction of the animal noice. The dust had almost settled down now. It revealed a scene which couldn't have been more strangely.  
Two Rachel's were facing each other. One lay in the crumbled remains of the wall, and the other had her hand on the lying one's throat, just like Al had been holding me up against the wall. The one on the floor looked shocked and fearful, while the other looked totally, badass scary.

I tried to get onto my feet, failing, while Donald left me on the floor to take matters into his own hands.  
He was holding a piece of magnetic chalk between his fingers and sneaked around the demons. It looked like he was going to trap them in a circle. I ditched my efforts to stand up; afraid the noice of it would draw their attention. We would be in seriously trouble if they spotted Donald before he could finish his plan.

A lightning struck through the kitchen and missed him by inchs. The cubicle hanging over the oven exploded and an unbelievable horrorfilled outcry rose from the Rachel on the floor. It sounded even more inhuman than the growl of the dominant one.  
Fuck, one of these demons had to be my daughter, but whom? Both were too demonic, I couldn't tell. But I had to help her.

The screaming stopped so abruptly that I almost thought I was deaf.  
_'Please God, don't let her be dead.'_ My eyes centered on the two Rachels in my kitchen.  
The cowering one took her hand off the other's throat and patted her chest. She appeared to be dazzled.

"No, you… didn't…" Her voice sounded sort of broken and weak. The furious look that had been on her face before was utterly gone now. But the eyes still were as black as a vampire's.

"You… made… me remember." The lying one muttered, so low it was almost inaudible.  
So, both of them were still among the living, which was good, because I still had no clue who was Rachel. I also had not the slightest idea how to find out.  
But it had to be the lying one, because the cowering one still had black eyes, and if she was the demon… the other had to be Rachel, right?

They were staring at each other; none of them spook another word for seconds.  
Donald finished his circle and his shaking fingers touched the line of chalk on the floor. "Rhombus!" And with that little word the circle flashed alive. A blue sheet with green spots of aura enclosed them.  
It took both inhabitants by complete surprise. The staring contest ended abruptly as both of them faced us. Two pairs of eyes were watching us with eeri confusion, one pair still black, the other one red and goat-slited. My breath left me, and it felt like I was going to die from the up-building pressure on my chest.

I had TWO demons in my kitchen. TWO! And I could only come up with an explanation for one of them. Suddenly I was a lot less worried about Al being here, and a lot more concerned about the unknown demon. And WHERE the hell was my daughter? I had to ask them.  
"Rachel?" I muttered into their direction. Both of them blinked.

Donald came to my left and helped me to my feet. Alone the touch of his skin and his reassuring scent of redwood helped me to keep breathing.  
My feet were hardly supporting my weight, and having TWO freaking demons in my kitchen made the situation only worse.

The expression on the black eyed one's face turned into lines of worry.  
"Mum." My heart sank down to the floor, and I was sure that my face had turned pale like fresh fallen snow. Air refused to enter my lungs, and black strips started to dance across my vision. I was about to faint. Donald's grip on my upper left arm kept me standing while I began to hyperventilate in panic.  
_'Is this really Rachel? Or are the demons playing mind-games with me?' _  
How could- my daughter… a witch- have black eyes? I had never heard of this being even possible.

Red mist jerked my gaze away from the black eye Rachel, and to make matters worse, it shifted into a big, muscled man. He wore a frock coat made out of green velvet, and an old school laced shirt below. He looked like a business man or an English Lord from the 19th century. I knew that description. Rachel had given it to me more than once. It was the favorite appearance of her demon-teacher. So it had to be Al.

It left me with a questionmark about the demon that was still in Rachel form.  
I shifted my gaze back to the black eyed woman. It made no sense… Rachel couldn't…  
_'Rachel is a witch! He is playing with you…'_ I warned myself.  
But I was anything but convinced that it was completely impossible. Rachel hadn't been a pure blooded witch from the very beginning. She had the ability to work demon magic… and she possessed a name she could be summoned with. How much witch was she, and how much demon was in her genetical makeup? Could she be enough of a demon to turn her eyes black like a vampire?

"What for the sake of the Turn just happened here? Who of them is supposed to be Rachel?" That was a remarkable good question. And one I would love to know the answer to as well.  
My eyes scanned both of them, but I still had no idea.  
"Rachel?" I moved slowly over to the circle, my fingers touched the layer of protection, while Donald put his hand on my shoulder, trying to be supportive and failing utterly.

"I told you it was a stupid idea to summon her!" he added. He had been right about the summoning. It truly had been a stupid idea. But now there were standing TWO demons in my kitchen, and we had to deal with it. One of them was Al and the other one? Who was it? A really sickering thought lingered at the borders of my awareness, and became more and more pressing with each passing second.

Rachel attracted trouble like shit attracted flies. But this… this was impossible.  
"You didn't summon me, you summoned Al. Mum, I told you I have my name back. Why were you summoning Al?" Her voice was all Rachel, complaining Rachel at her best.  
It had some sort of resonance that even Al couldn't possible fake.

"No, Donald is right," I pointed at Donald, almost accusingly.  
"I used YOUR name, why did I get him instead?" my gaze shifted over to the smirking demon in green velvet. The typical red goat-slitted eyes, which were trademarks of demonkind, blinked at me.

"But Al has his name b… " She stopped in middle sentence and turned around to face the demon behind her. He was standing close to her, way too close for my liking.  
"You DID WHAT?" she asked furious and confused. Al didn't say anything at all, but it looked like he didn't have to. Her mouth turned into a snarl and she hissed half of his summoningname into the room.

Al reacted faster than anyone else in this room. His hand sealed her lips. My heart stopped for a few moments as I expected him to rip her head off. But instead the demon spoke almost gentle with his British accent.  
"You don't want to tell the other witch, even if your mother knows my name, the man with her doesn't. And I want to keep it that way." White gloved fingers left her lips. It astonished me a lot that Rachel wasn't freaking out about this almost intimitate touch. Now I was almost sure that mine and Robbies' suspicions about Rachel and the demon were correct. But my mind totally refused to accept it as truth.

My eyes traveled over to Donald, while I watched his reaction. He was stock still and silent, as if he was waiting for the other bomb to be dropped on our heads. Nothing happened for at least three heartbeats, and this was about as much silence as he could stand.  
"How's it possible to summon a demon and get another one instead?" A damn good question, I wanted to hear his answer as well. Three minutes ago my world was shaken, but now it was about to break into thousand little pieces. Had it only been three minutes?  
The kitchen looked like it was being a battlefield for months… or like Tim Taylor went postal with a sledge hammer.

Al's lips curved upward into a smirk while Rachel, looked positively ill.  
The demon opened his mouth and was gone before he could even bring a word across his lips. Gone with the sun, I suppose.

One problem solved… one demon less… but the second one- Rachel? She was still standing in my kitchen, even though the sun was up. How was that even possible? The whole situation was kind of surreal. Nothing happened for a few heartbeats, which seemed to stretch into eternity. Utter silence came over us like a blanket, and then a plate from the destroyed cubicel tipped over and fell to the floor, slow motion like.  
The plate hit the tiled floor and broke with a loud clank. Thankfully it broke the spell we had been trapped in as well, and time seemed to be moving forward again.

Rachel dropped to her knees and hugged her middle. A low whimper of pain formed in her throat. My heartbeat was thundering loud in my ears.  
_'What the hell is going on?'_ I asked myself.  
How could Rachel be a demon? I was pretty sure about the girl in the circle being Rachel. But I was also damn sure that she was a demon.  
_'But demons can't stay after the sun rose.'_ At least every damn spellbook told us that.  
But the books also never hinted that witches could be turned into demons. I mean, humans getting turned into vampires was old news, but this? Maybe it had something to do with Rachel being a surviver of Rosewood Syndrom. Her blood was able to kiddle demon magic.

Donald took position in front of the circle, his eyes looked hounded. Damn, he must have come to the same concludion as I. But while I was still brooding about the WHYs of it, he had made up his mind to take actions.  
"Demon…" I was pretty sure he was going to banish Rachel to the ever-after.

The she-demon in the circle doubled over and screamed painful. Her shriek sounded inhuman, almost like a pig being slaughtered. My mouth went dry and my inside cold.  
How could Donald stand in front of his circle while another person was screaming her head off? A person who might be his own daughter?  
He might be able to stomach this, I wasn't. I had to help her. I fought with my weak knees to keep me standing and hurried over to Donald.

"…I demand that…" He indeed was banishing her. I wouldn't let him. I simply couldn't let him do this. The certainness that this demon woman was my daughter amplified with each passing second. It felt like she was calling out to me, and I couldn't let this happen. I simply couldn't let him banish her to the ever-after. I had to help her. And no Donald… not even Al himself would dare to stand between me and my daughter.  
"…you…" I reached him and gave him a thrust into the direction of his circle. He tripped over his feet and collided with the barrier. It went down as did he. Donald fell to the floor and turned his head to face me, furious as hell.

"Are you nuts?" he hissed. But I paid him no attention. Instead I ran over to Rachel and took her into my arms. Hell, she reeked of burnt amber. Not even a hint of the characteristic Redwood scent left on her. I engaged my second sight- that was about the only ley-line ability I had mastered without years of training.  
Her aura was horrible black, only a few little parts of her aura were still untouched golden.

"What have you done to yourself, Rachel" I asked, redundantly, since she was obviously occupied with screaming her head off. She convulsed in my hold, and my worry amplified even more. How the hell could I help her? I had no idea- what the fuck was wrong with her anyway?

"Alice be careful, she is pulling on the line… hell… let go of her. This is dangerous." Donald yelled at me, and was halfway to his feet.  
"How can I help her, Donald?" I hated the sound of my voice being so weak and squeaky.  
"Alice, if she turns this much energy into an attack you'll end up being a pile of ash. Let go!" He was now standing over us, looking down with a bewildered expression on his face, his eyes wide with terror.

I shook my head, and refused to let go of my daughter. My attention went back to her, she was breathing hard and racked, and sweat was running down her face. I couldn't take this sight any longer. Both of my hands seized her face and I bent over her.  
"Rachel, how can I help you?" I whispered into her ear. There was not a single thing in this world I wouldn't do… wouldn't give, only to make her stop suffering.

She refused to answer me, but I felt a touch on my aura. A pulling sensation went through me. It was as if a thousand ants were running under my skin and they left coldness behind.  
_'Give this to me!'_ a voice wriggled through my mind. Its touch was like warm, soft velvet, a blessing after the coldness of the ants. It sent goose flesh down my spin, but even if the voice didn't sound much like Rachel, it felt like her.  
I knew- could have fought harder- I could have protected myself from what was about to happen next, but I didn't. Whatever it wanted… I was willing to give it.  
_'It's yours.' _

Spears of velvet darkness ran through my whole body, from wherever our skin touched to the last molecul of me. And then she pulled, and ripped me out of my flesh. Only now I realized what she had been asking for.  
She sucked my soul out of its ancestral body and took it into hers. I had sold my soul to a freaking demon, the demon that was my daughter.

Memories and warmth twined through the core of my essence. Nothing I saw made sense. But at least I knew it hadn't been a mistake. This girl truly was my Rachel. Fragments of her childhood flared before me and were gone before my astral fingers could reach for them.  
The will to fight this lessened even more as I sensed her being painless and well again.  
If everything she needed was my soul in her body, I was willing to die for it. I gave up all resistance and let her essence merge mine.

* * *

Alice didn't see or sensed much of Rachel's attemted on Al's life... but she found out her daughter is a demon as well. She never intented to give her soul... but after it was done she accepted it. So does it feel to get ones soul sucked out willingly ^^.  
Sounds sort of like reserved possessing doesn't it ^^. Hope you like it.


	48. Give it back

**A demoness awakens XLVIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Alice / Rachel / Al / Donald  
**Summary:** Rachel has taken the soul of her mother into her body, and panics. Al helps her. But while he does, how is Alice feeling about the whole thing? How does it feel to get your soul sucked out for a second time?

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens XLVIII: _Give it back_**

**- Alice –-**  
Pain… I hadn't expected it. Not here in this sphere of utter serenity and security. But it came, and it got worse. If I'd had a breath and a voice with which to scream, I would have done so. The touch was unexpected, hot and hard as steel. This one was not asking for a gift, or attention. There was no communication at all. It severed the threads which were holding me together. I wailed with pain and displeasure, kicked and clawed at whatever was hurting me. But I had no clue how to fight this, and had as much a chance as a snowball in hell.

It touched me all over and I felt violated down to my very soul.  
_'Soul?'_ I asked myself. Yes, I had no body anymore; I was only a soul… inside a demon's body. How have I gotten here? I never had dealt in demons, and there was no mark on my skin that said I owed a favor to one. How the hell could a demon have my soul?

Another red-hot touch speared through me, then a pulling sensation ripped me out of flesh again and suddenly there was even more pain.  
This time I screamed, and I felt the coldness of air that was sucked into my lungs.  
_'Wait, I have a body again?'_ Seizures ran uncomfortably through my reanimated flesh.  
_'So, I'm still alive.'_ My thoughts were still a bit numb from the experience.

Thankfully the seizures didn't last long. And the sensation of having flesh that I could call my own soon became normal again. I opened my eyes… and found a warm hand on my cheek. Green eyes looked down at me. Green goat-slitted eyes.

_'Goat slitted eyes?'_ I had a brief moment of panic, until my mind wrapped itself around the fact that this was the demon who had taken my soul. Even if I hadn't understood what I was doing when I gave it to her, I would do so again to save her.

So my daughter truly was a demon.

"Rachel…" my voice sounded harsh and weak.  
She looked away slightly, as if she couldn't bear my eyes on her. I wanted to tell her that I understood. That she hadn't hurt me. That it made no difference to me. That she was still my little girl. I wanted to tell her so many things, but the only I got out was, "I'm sorry…"  
I sat up and put my arms around her, rubbing her back soothingly. She was shivering, probably utterly shocked at her own action.  
I was pretty damn sure she had never intended to take my soul. My Rachel just wasn't the type for it. Maybe she had been unaware of what she was doing until it was too late.  
Like a human turned vampire, with frightening new instincts and no one who could teach her.

No, not completely right, there was one person… well, demon… who could teach her. Should have been teaching her. But where was the guy when Rachel needed him? Like every other guy… off to somewhere else doing who knows what. Anger flared inside of me. But I wasn't sure if it was anger at Donald for letting me deal with Monty's death on my own, or at Al for leaving Rachel this vulnerable.

There was no time for me to decide, because Donald chose this moment to speak.  
"She stole you soul! Look at her eyes… she's a demon. And that freaking Kalamack told us that this was impossible! She should have been a witch!" He sounded angry and afraid, but this wasn't reason enough to hurt Rachel even more. And the comment had hurt her, if her increasing trembling was any indication.

"Shut up, Donald. Don't you see that she's suffering?" His eyes leveled on mine and he became even more pissed off.  
"Are you insane? She took your soul! You could have died!" Rachel started crying as Donald began pacing in circles around the room.

"I'm sorry, mum. I didn't know… I … I." I never have heard her sound so heartbroken.  
Even if I was the victim, I felt sorry for her. Just the thought of how she must be feeling right now created a big lump of sympathy in my heart.  
But there were a lot of questions what needed answers, such as, "Why are your eyes demon-like", "Why do you smell like burnt amber", "What's up with you and that demon", "Why did he appear instead of you", "Why can you stay this side while the sun is up", "How did you take my soul and why"- and if you gave me long enough I would surely come up dozens more. However I suspected that she couldn't answer half of the questions herself, and the other half, like "What's up with you and Al" was probably the LAST thing she wanted to talk about.

Was she afraid that I would turn my back on her?  
"I know, Rachel. I know, you never meant to take it. You gave it back. Everything is all right!" I so desperately wanted her pain to go away.

"Alice, please- she's dangerous." As if I didn't know that? I was crazy, not stupid. But even though she was dangerous, it was still no reason to shun my daughter. I had lived with the constant fear of losing her as a child. Now she was healthy. Her survival was the greatest gift I could have received, and her being demon wasn't going to change that fact.

Rachel went limp in my embrace. Worry raised its head again. Almost furiously I checked for her pulse, her breathing and her aura.  
The aura was blackening further even as I watched it. Maybe it was due to the being a demon thing, but I wasn't sure. Her breathing and pulse was totally normal.

I had to laugh when I grasped what had just happened. Rachel had fallen asleep. She was only sleeping. Only now did I realize how stressed I was, as tears began falling down my cheek.

"Alice?" Donald knelt beside me, but he neither touched any of us.  
"I'm okay… just stressed out. Rachel is sleeping. Please help me carry her to the couch, or a bed. She can't just leave her on the floor."

He looked bewildered.  
"Alice, do you even get what had just happened here?" He watched me with painful cautiousness. I noticed that his cheek was red- it looked like the imprint of five fingers.  
Had someone hit him in the face? There was no one here but the three of us. My eyes shifted over to Rachel. It couldn't be. Was she responsible for this bruise?

"No, I don't. And you don't know either." I said.  
"I know that she stole your soul… and that she has goat-slitted eyes. She reeks of burnt amber. The sunrise tried to pull her back. Alice… even if this is Rachel, she isn't our Rachel anymore. She's a demon."

My arm rose on its own, a gesture I had used to silence my children. It worked even on a grown man.  
"Listen, Donald. She didn't steal it. I gave it to her… even if I had no clue that she wanted my soul. And she gave it back. I'm still alive and unharmed. And she is with us and not with Al." He looked totally nonplussed.

"You GAVE it to her?" I nodded.

"She was dying… I couldn't let my daughter die in my arms… not if I had the means to save her. I simply had to use it." Donald just shook his head.  
"You're insane, you know that, woman?" It didn't sound angry anymore. More like he was teasing me.

"I know." I smiled. His acceptance of my craziness was one big part of his attraction.  
"Are you going to help me now or not?" His eyes shifted back to Rachel. He made a disagreeing face. But at least he wasn't afraid to touch her anymore.

* * *

Alice is back in her body, and now she knows how it feels to get her soul sucked out unwillingly. Hope you liked it too.  
Sorry for it being so short, but I had no other place to cut elsewhere. ^^


	49. Hairy business

**A demoness awakens XLIX**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust._

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Alice  
**Summary:** Rachel wakes up in an unknown bedroom. Where the hell is she, and what's she doing there. And what happened anyway. Memory comes back all to fast, and to top it off she needs a bathroom as well.

_Please enjoy_

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**A demoness awakens XLIX : _Hairy business_**

**- Rachel -**  
I felt like I had slept for a week. The exquisite scents of baked bacon, fried eggs with potatoes, and strong coffee woke me up. My head still felt fuzzy, like it was made of cotton.  
I turned over and opened my eyes. Sunlight streamed through the white lace curtains around the window. A few plants in terracotta pots gave the room a pleasant accent.

I frowned; this was not my bed, and not my church. The lack of the burnt amber smell, as well as the light of the sun, made clear it wasn't Al's room either.

"Where the hell am I?" My voice sounded a bit too harsh, like I had been screaming myself hoarse. What had happened?  
Fingers flew over my skin as I determined whether I was still in one piece. I noted with satisfaction that everything was exactly where it belonged.

I stood up and went to the window; maybe my environment would tell me where I was.  
The view was fantastic. There were mountains in the distance, white against the deep blue of the day. The garden below the window was full of plants. Not like a human's garden with mowed grass and a few flowers. No, this was a witch's garden, full of plants used to cook up earth magic charms. I had once been an earth witch, before I tried ley-line spells for defense and circles, and before I came across the demon shape-shifting curses, so I knew how to value a good garden like that. I wondered if the witch also had a clan of pixies tending to it.

_'Demon…'_ Memory slammed into me like a train. The summoning, the fight with Al, the circle which trapped us, the rising sun, the feeling of my mother's soul taken into my body… everything came back at once. Hell, was this how Newt felt all the time? No wonder she was insane.  
The memory was so intense that I had to sit down on the bed again, or I would have embarrassed myself by falling to the floor.

So, this had to be my mother's house. I rose to my feet as the dizziness had retreated enough to stay upright. My eyes took in the rest of the room. Framed pictures hung on the wall opposite the window. Everyone was smiling, and the pictures showed happy moments of my life. Not only mine- there were also pictures of my mother, and of Robbie. A few of his fiancé and another woman who looked almost like her, maybe her sister or mother. A tear rolled down my cheek and dropped from my chin.

A family, my family… and I didn't feel like I was part of it anymore. I felt like a fucking outcast, a monster. And I hated to feel like that. Donald, my own father, had tried to banish me. I still could remember the pull of his words on the circle, even though I had been fighting the sun at that moment.

I tried to imagine happy family pictures with Al and Dali, and failed utterly. It made me feel even more miserable then before. This was a lousy exchange.

The urge to smash the pictures rose inside of me, but vanished as I stomped on it. I was a grown up, and grown ups don't destroy other people's things just because their own failures came back to bite them a good one.

Dissatisfied with my own train of thoughts I left the room. When had I been to the bathroom last time? I couldn't remember, but my bladder had a different memory and urged me to go there. Nothing else was important enough to deter my rendezvous with the porcelain. A quick search of the first story ended successfully with me in the bathroom.  
It had a big shower, an even bigger bathtub, and a sauna in the left corner of the room. Well, Donald, aka Takata, being famous obviously had its benefits.

Pretty bathroom or not, the man was going to get a taste of my feet in his buttocks. Banishing me…? What had that guy been thinking? I went to the toilet and gave my bladder the release it had been waiting for. Afterwards, I remained sitting and eyeballed the bathroom over. I couldn't withstand the pull of comparing it to Ivy's… or even Al's.

A shudder ran over my skin as I thought of Ivy IN Al's bathroom. Great, why had that damned scene had to make a reappearance in my memory?

I stood and walked over to the mirror. My hair was a tangled mess of red. My face was still soiled with blood, as were my clothes. I looked fucking horrible! It was a wonder my mother hadn't banished me herself.  
This was NOT a state in which I wanted to have THE TALK with my mother. To be honest, I didn't want to have THAT talk at all. But there simply was no way around it. Not even for a demon. I met my gaze in the mirror- had I really just thought that? Was I accepting the fact that I was a demon?

"Demon…" I whispered, almost afraid the damn thing would break. It didn't. And it didn't hurt as much as before. Hell, it almost looked like I was truly accepting it.

Angrily I turned away from the mirror. My mind reached for the line to shift. It would leave me as fresh as a daisy, not to mrntion clean … and smelling of burnt amber. I stopped. The energy of the unused curse singed through my veins.  
"Damn it all back to the Turn!" I hissed and ditched the line. Turning to demon curses was becoming habitual. That managed to shock me down to the bone… it frightend me halfway out of my skull.  
Being a demon was a fact I couldn't change anymore. So I had to accept it. But behaving like one was another part of the deal, one I could still influence.

Pissed at my flighty actions, I walked over to the shower.  
Would my mother mind me using it? I hoped not, because I wasn't going to ask. Slowly I pried my blood-encrusted working leathers from my skin and threw them into the basin to clean up later.

One last glance in the mirror gave away the hopelessness of my whole situation. I shrugged and turned the water on. Hot, as hot as I could make it. And it still wasn't enough to thaw the ice inside me.  
I used three rounds of shampoo and three big globs ones of conditioner and still my hair refused to do what I wanted it to.  
It was still knotted all to hell. An angry growl left my lips as I tried to stare it into submission- failing, of course! Even a demon's stare couldn't intimidate my unruly hair- maybe this why Newt was bald.

My eyes shifted down my body and the hair on my legs. A sigh later, I took Donald's razor of the rack and began to shave my legs and my armpits. Then I tried to scrub away the burnt amber smell that clung to my skin like bubblegum in hair.

I didn't know how long I had been in the shower, but it was obviously too long.  
"Rachel, are you okay." My mother asked.

Great, I was still scrubbing my skin, so hard it was sore and red. But I still stank of burnt amber. What was I supposed to answer?  
"Rachel, can I come in?" I sighed. No sense putting it off any longer, better to get it over with. It wasn't like I could run away forever.  
Of course I could jump to Al's rooms, but she knew my name and could summon me again whenever the sun was down.  
According to Al I could let him take over the summons instead. But I seriously didn't want him on my mother's throat again.

"Come in." It sounded a lot more angry than I had intented it to, but she entered anyway.

"Rachel, talk to me." Her voice was soft, the same voice she had used when I had been suffering badly from my childhood disease.  
"It wouldn't come off…" This clearly hadn't been what I wanted to say.

A hand reached for the opaque glass of the shower stall. Slowly the door was opened while I sank down to sit on the floor.  
Her green eyes found mine and she looked down worringly.  
"You don't look so good. Rachel." She turned the water off and put one of her pink flannel towels over my shoulders.

"It won't come off… I smell like… them." I whispered but had no strength left to escape her embrace. The moment her smell hit me I began to cry again. When had I become so tearful?

"Everything's all right. Come one out of the shower. You need to eat something."

"My cloths are all bloody. My hair is a mess. I look like shit… and I smell even worse. I need to wash it off." My mother grasped my hands in hers and looked me in the eyes, suddenly serious.  
"You have been in that shower for an hour and a half. It's enough… what hasn't come off by now isn't going to, even if you make it five hour's worth. Come one…" she coaxed.  
"Out of the shower!"

She pulled me to my feet and I let her. Then she slowly guided me out of the stall. Every surface of the bathroom was covered with condensation. It had to be warm in here, but I still felt so damn cold. Her fingers pointed at the toilet lid.  
"Sit!" This was a clear order, but neither my normal Rachel self nor the demoness inside me got angry about it. This was a first, I at least expected my pride to rebel. Instead it lay still. My mother extended a dark blue bathrobe to me. It smelled like redwood, cigarets and leather. The leather reminded me of Kisten, while the redwood gave me the illusion of belonging. Only the cigarettes I couldn't place. Maybe Donald was a smoker. I took the robe, because I absolutely refused to walk around the house naked.

Her warm fingers went through my hair as she tried to untangle the mess.  
"Rachel, what have you done to your hair?" she asked, like so many years ago. My mother stood and opened the cabinet which was hidden behind the mirror. A little proud smile moved over her lips as she extracted a small container. The door closed and she sat down beside me.

"This is my latest beauty product; it should be absolutely perfect for your hair." I was sure she had invented it for Donald's hair, but as long as I didn't have to walk around bald or like a mop, I was hardly going to complain. Her fingers delved into the white cream.  
It smelled like vanilla and roses, and of course redwood. Interesting smell, and obviously earth magic by the scent of it.  
She started with the ends of my hair and worked her way to the top of my head, slowly and carefully massaging the white cream into my hair.

Whether it worked or not didn't matter, it was nowhere nearly as important as her acceptance of me.  
The woman was sitting in her bathroom, with her demon daughter, like it was perfectly normal; and she was calmly taming her hair.  
We didn't speak at all, and at the end she brushed the red mass without resistance at all. It obeyed her very stroke.

This seemed to be the story of my life- a bad ass demoness with all the power of the lines behind her, but unable to master her own damn curled hair. I imagined how Al would laugh his ass off, should he ever become aware of that fact.

My mother lay the brush aside and smiled at me.  
"You look fantastic. Now come. You need something to eat." She rose to her feet, but I remained sitting. Her head tilted to the right and her eyebrows rose.  
"What's up?" There was a curious and hurt edge to her voice.

"Donald… he … isn't down there, is he?" My mother gifted me with one of her gorgeous smiles and shook her head.  
"I sent him off to Robbie and Cindy." I went shock still again.

"He is going to rain all over my parade… mum… if I have to face his accusions about my lifestyle again, I'm going to freaking break down and cry myself to death." Well, maybe that was a bit to melodramatic, but I felt so awfully fragile at the moment that it might come true anyway.

"Rachel, before we know what the hell has happened, NO one is going to bitch at you. Believe me."

That sounded like a promise. But maybe hanging out with demons too much gives one a pessimistic strike, because in my head it translated directly into 'as soon as I know enough I'm going to kick your ass little lady.'  
My stomached growled at me and I decided that she was right. I might be able to run from family business a little longer, but food without that burnt amber taste attached began to sound pretty promising right now.

* * *

I really like that chapter, and Alice. She's such a kind-hearted mother. Never thought I could come up with something so gently, hope you liked it ^^


	50. Having THAT talk

**A demoness awakens L**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Alice /Al  
**Summary:** Rachel managed to sneak around that talk for way to long... now she can't run anymore. Let's see how Alice takes in the facts about Rachel's and Al's bond ^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens L : _Having THAT talk_**

**- Rachel -**  
Coffee steam rose in front of me. My eyes were fixed on the garden. The sun played light and shadow with the leaves on the trees. It looked utterly peaceful, but it wasn't.

I had eaten a gigant portion of egg, toast and bacon, and was finally nearly filled up. My mother moved to the oven and got a big ass chocolate cake out of it.  
"So … what's up with you and the demon?" Her voice was careful, but I could still sense her unhappiness.

I watched her slow and easy movements like a rabbit would watch a snake.  
"It's complicated." Evasion- if you didn't want to answer a given question, try for evasive answers first. It was demon 101- Al had tried more than once to beat this sort of shit into my head. And ironically, it was my own mother who drove home the point.

"You know exactly what I mean." She sounded dispeasured.  
"NO, as a matter of fact, I don't." It was hard to keep myself from grinning. Damn, I almost felt like Al. He was the one who would enjoy riling my mother up, or giving evasive answers to piss off a summoner.

"You want it the hard way? Well, you can have it the hard way. Are you sleeping with the demon?" Her eyes found mine and I knew she would spot a lie the instant it came out of my mouth. My glance shifted over to her flowers, then back to the coffee in my hands. Black… as black as my aura would be soon.  
"Yes…" It was almost soundless, but there was no reason to sugarcoat the truth. She was silent for a few heartbeats.

"Was it consensual?" I really shouldn't have tried to drink my coffee before she said something. Now I choke on it. My eyes watered while I coughed. Her question had awoken that thing inside of me that I desperately wanted to keep away from my mother. But with a demon as your lover it seemed to be a valid question.  
"Yes, it was." She shuddered at the words, or maybe it was the dark frequency that came out with my remark. To be honest, I was as shocked by the answer as she was.

She looked at me nonplussed.  
"How? I thought you loathed him." Her hands were shaking and she gulped a mouthful of her coffee, though it was obviously still to hot to be drunk this way. She coughed.  
"I still loathe him. As a matter of fact I may even hate him. But with demons… it doesn't seem to matter." Mum blinked at me, eyes wide. She didn't understand. I empathized with her.  
"It doesn't matter at all." I sounded beaten and on the verge of tears again.

My mother rose from her chair and came over with a slice of cake, which she put in front of me. Chocolate for the wounded woman's soul; always was a good form of therapy.  
"What happened?" Her warm hand touched my back, but I withstood the lure of her comfort. She might push me away halfway through the truth I was going to reveal, and I would break if she did.  
"Pierce came over for coffee." She raised her eyebrows.

"Pierce? The ghost witch? What does he have to do with this?" I sighed… this was going to be a loony drive over Rachel's sex-lane.  
"Yes, exactly. Him. He's Al's familiar. And before you ask, yes, I slept with him as well. And no, I'm not turning into a slut. I liked the guy… and he was attractive, and we were in mortal danger. And suddenly we were kissing and making out." She shook her head at me, probably thinking I was a slut. I tried to ignore the thought and moved on.  
"We shared the most incredible power pull I had ever experienced in my life." Not enterly true anymore; Al was better at it, a lot better. But I think for a witch Pierce was the best one could find.

She pluged her fork into the brown cake and screwed at the bite, then waved with the silverware to keep me talking. I sighed. This was far from easy… almost like telling your mother that you were pregnant- by your English teacher. I paused… hell, what if I was pregnant from Al?

Panic rose inside of me, and my mother saw it, of course she would.  
"Rachel?" I shook my head. I wasn't going to talk about the possibility of demon-grandchildren with my mother as long as I had no facts.  
"According to Pierce, this way of communing with the lines was a 'demon-thing'. It feels like the upgraded version of a power pull. One becomes the line. And I learned how to do it… from him," _'…while he was buried deep in my privates.'_ I added in my thoughts but wouldn't say out loud.

She was my mother, but I wouldn't talk about this even with my best friend. Assuming I even had a hetero best friend. Ivy was the best friend one could find, but she also had the hots for me, so it wouldn't do to fling my adventures into her face.  
"He came to me… three days ago… with coffee. And as we were about to get hot and heavy, something went wrong." My mother raised her eyebrows again.

"What went wrong?" she asked and took another bit of her cake, as did I.  
"I… went wrong. The line started pulsing… and I was suddenly filled with unslaked desire. Mum… it was something so far beyond any control that you can't imagine how it felt. You know how a vampire bit makes you feel?" I didn't know if she had ever gotten one. But she knew about Ivy's and I was sure she had heard about the side-effects of one.  
"It was like having an undead playing on the scar… only a thousand times more intense. I lost myself… and I would have killed Pierce if Al hadn't saved him." Again I had to pause.

Pierce? What had happened to him, AFTER he brought the amulet to us? Al had vanished somewhere with him and hadn't spoken of him since. To be honest, I realized I hadn't asked about him either. This was totally unusual for me, to forget a friend in peril. I would ask Al about Pierce and Lord have mercy on him if Al had dared to kill him.

Mum looked positively ill now.  
"Al calls it heat. I would say demon mating instincts… That I even have something like that makes me sick to the bone. We had… we slept… and I swear to God, I would have killed him right there and then if he had tried to leave me in that state." Worry settled in my mother's eyes, and her fingers danced over my back again. But I got the feeling she did it more out of her own need for support than mine.  
"Al also says that demon females are dangerous in this state, because they don't have any control over their reactions." Her eyes pinched at me.

"So it was rape after all." I rolled my eyes.  
"Mum, if I understand what the demons told me correctly, than there is no such thing as raping a demon woman. Al told me that they kill anyone who's not to their liking. Like I tried to kill Pierce… it turned out my inner demon doesn't like him as much as mich witchy mind." Her face went white as she got what I meant.

"So, it was either sex with the demon or killing him? Yeah right, like you could kill anyone. Al knows that." Now I had to laugh. It sounded totally humorless.  
"It doesn't matter if I could kill him or not. As long as my … instincts… are in control it doesn't matter at all. I almost killed Al in your kitchen." She blinked, not getting what I just told her.  
"I would have killed him there and then, if he hadn't clubbed me with the memory of his former mate's death." I couldn't help sounding hurt.

"Demon instincts… mate… Rachel, I don't understand any of this." she said, which made me smile at her.  
"Great. That makes two of us." My fork cut through the icing of the cake and I took another bite. It tasted delicious.

"Any chance that your demon will answer to my questions?" she asked, while I made big unbelieving eyes on her.  
"Just because I'm a demon now, doesn't mean you should become a summoner." Now it was my voice colored with displeasure. My mother smirked at me.  
"Well that demon is banging my daughter; so to speak… he should be able to explain a few things, shouldn't he." My jaw dropped.

"You can't be serious!" I could imagine quite well exactly what my demon would tell her. She smilled at me knowingly, as if I had just dropped the missing piece to her puzzle.  
"Yes, indeed I am serious." Another bit of cake followed the rest.  
"You aren't telling me everything, and you want answers too, don't you? So I'll summon him come sundown." I just shook my head.  
"No, you won't." My fingers tapped at the tabletop angry at her resolve.

"Rachel, you are not going to tell me what and what not to do." Her voice entered I'm-the-mother-here mode. But this time it was so totally not working on me.  
"If your plans involve MY demon, I certainly am gonna tell you what the hell to do." Now it was here jaw that dropped.

"Rachel Mariana Morgan-" I cut her off with a gesture and pointed my silverware at her.

"NO, he is MINE! And no one will touch him but me. If you want him summoned here, you'll have to make a deal with me, FIRST!" My voice had dropped to a bare whisper, and threads of darkness wound around me. Darkness my mother wasn't able to see or feel, at least I hoped so. The woman got to her feet and retreated a few steps, until she got her instincts to flee back unter control.

"Rachel?" I hated myself for the hurt and uncertainty in my mother's voice. Crap on toast! It had been going so well, and then I had to blast it all to hell.

"Quiet… instincts… just give me a minute… control." It made no sense, but at least I was able to identify the urge as instinct, and not as my own will. Making blood prints on the wall with my mother's body parts was NOT what I wanted to do at all.

I willed myself back onto the chair and started to count to hundred. Hell, how was Ivy able to deal with this? My only hope was that my mother knew a few vampires and would keep silent until I gave her green light. If living with a vampire had taught me one thing, it was when to keep away from an instinct-driven animal in distress.

Long deep breathes, in … out… I counted annother hundred and slowly the urge to go for her throat vanished wherever it had come from.

Mum sat on the chair furthest away from me and eyed me over like I was tiger in kitten-disgust. To be true I almost felt like that as well.  
"Sorry… mum." She looked a little more relaxed and less freaked out, now that my voice was back to normal.

"That was some crazy shit you just pulled on me. It almost scared my pants right off my ass. Is this the instinct you were talking about?" I just nodded.  
"You looked like a vampire on the verge of serious bloodshed." My sigh felt heavy in the air around me.

"The analogy is closer than you realize. Do you believe me now, that a demon wouldn't survive attempting to rape me?" This time she did the nodding.

"Rachel, I hope you're not gonna enter this mood again, but I have to ask anyway. What do you mean then you say YOUR demon? It sounded like it meant a lot more than that word usually does." There it was, the question I wanted to leave unanswered for the rest of her life… but she would be a lot safer around me if she knew what buttons would be better left unpushed.

Then it hit me square over the head, as Al's behavior came back to the forefront of my mind. According to him, he had taken over my summoning. And he went for my mother's throat, like I had almost done a few seconds ago. So, his attack had been his demon instincts… because I was as much HIS as he was MINE.  
Capital! I had almost killed him for good, because he went after someone I wanted to protect. And it all had been instincts as well. If it hadn't been for the bond between us he would be a pile of ash by now. How have demons managed to survive until today?  
"Rachel?" she asked again, as I turned pale at the thought.

"Always following your guts… you're right about it. Being more He's sort of my soulmate." Mum took a deep breath of complete confusion, while I hugged my head, refusing to spare her a glance.

"Soulmate? What do you mean?" Though it was clear she already had a pretty good idea what I meant.  
"Demons… bond by the way of their souls…" She was out of her chair and her hand clasped on mine.

"Explain." reflected the no-nonsense mood she often took when the shit had hit the fan.  
"Human's exchange rings… demons, part of their souls…" Her pupilles were so wide there was no color left, but black on white. Mum tried to swallow more than one lungful of air at once and choked on it.  
"He's holding your soul?" It hardly sounded like her voice anymore, it was so high with panic.

"A part of it… in return for a part of his. Dali… told me it's to prevent paired demons from killing each other over nothing." I absolutely didn't like the color- or lack thereof- on my mother's face.  
She fought for breathe, even if she was getting enough air.  
"So… you… are married to a demon… with a soul as a wedding band?" Her face looked like she was about to faint.  
"Is there a way to… divorce you?" Her fingers were digging into my skin. But the pain wasn't bothering me. Instead I held her closer, so she wouldn't fall on her ass if she should she really faint.

"Not… with both of us coming out of it alive… and from what I understand, it's painful enough to drive the surviving demon into suicide." Mum began to hyperventilate and my grip on her grew stronger. Wait, shouldn't I be the one having the panic attack here?

"Oh… my God…" The whisper was one of utter shock and she clung to me, still breathing way to fast.  
"Mum… I'm the one married to a demon; with no escape but death… don't you dare to get a panic attack on it! I should be the one to lose my head… not you. You're my mother… so help me figure out a way to deal with it… to accept it." I whispered into the air.

It snapped her out of her panic, and she looked at me, anger flairing in her eyes.  
"You're my daughter, and you just brought home a DEMON as my SON-IN-LAW. Tell me again why I have no damn reason to freak our! Remember that this son-in-law just tried to kill me for good!"  
Her fingers went through her hair, while I kept my silence. She disentangled herself, and went for a second piece of cake, downing it so fast that one could think she hadn't eaten for the last three weeks.

"At least you don't have to live with him. And you don't have uncontrollable demon instincts either." I tried for humor and failed miserable.

"Don't go all pity parade on my ass! How the hell did this happen anyway? Was he THAT good in bed that you had to give a part of your soul away?" she all but screamed.

Now it was my time to raise both my eyebrows. Hell, how I wished I could do that single eyebrow trick… it would have left a better impression of my mood.  
"Pity parade…?" I growled threateningly, but at least there was no darkness in my voice.  
"I only had sex with him once… without any control over my reactions at all. And at the peak of it I went wild with the lines… I bound him… and to say it with Al's words… I burnt the witch out of me." A tear fell down my cheek, again. How many times have I cried today? Obviously not often enough, but on the other hand, I didn't know if there was a number existing in this world what would be sufficient.

"I turned myself into a demon. A demon woman, nasty temper and everything attached. Ceri, Ivy and Glenn all tried to finish me off. Cormel made Ivy bite me, and Trent ratted us out to the undead. Newt is throwing is a freaking party next full moon. I don't think you have to worry about demon blood tainting your family tree, since Al and I will probably be dead in four days anyway…" My head hit the surface of the table. Okay, that comment had been utterly low.  
To say I was used to problems would be an understatement, but this was too much… even for me. And all the things I had dropped on my mother's head were just the icing of the cake. I didn't even mention Cormel's killer-brigard, the curse of soul-keeping for undead vampires, or the promise to give my daughter to Dali in exchange for nine of Newt's marks. And whatever the crazy demon-bitch was up to still remained unknown as well. I could only predict that the outcome wasn't going to be pretty.

"Rachel… " Her hand came to rest on my head and then she drew me into an painfully tight embrace. For a moment I was glad to be a demon, since if I had still been a witch this would have seriously hurt.  
"I'm sorry." That, at least, was the total truth.

We sat there, hugging each other for long silent minutes, both of us crying and dwelling in our own thoughts. The coffee had turned cold by the time we finally let go of each other.

"Rachel…" her voice sounded questioning.  
"Yes?" Mine sounded sort of raspy.

"Can… you bring Al with you… for dinner?" I stared at her. Had I heard her right?

"WHAT?" Her lips turned up into a shy smile.  
"If he's my son-in-law… you should bring him along for dinner, give us all a chance to sort things out, to learn more about each other." I blinked at her, still not getting it.

"Wait, you're inviting US to dinner?" This was one of those ideas only Alice Morgan would come up with. Batshit crazy, but without the malicious intent Newt's would have possessed.  
"Yes, Rachel. I invite you and your demon Al… to dinner. Wow, that sounds pretty creepy don't you think?" She laughed at her own idea, as if she wanted to play down its significance. I laughed as well, maybe for the same reason.

"Yes, you're right it sounds crazy. Let me see what Al says to this." Her giggle ended abruptly. I had obviously gone for her deal.

"Wait, you can speak to him, without a summoning?" I grinned at her.  
"Yes, you know about the scrying mirror, don't you?" She nodded.  
"You brought it with you? Where is it?" A low sigh shifted over my lips.  
"At Trent's… broken, I might add, damn elf. But this bond with Al has its benifits; I can speak to him whenever I want to." The comment about Trent having my mirror threw her off her track. But this was another story for another day.

I reached for my mate and got a weak, moody response.  
_'Al?'_ His mood wasn't as good as I had hoped. He barely had his anger under control. I wanted to ask him why, but I could always ask later.

_'What is it?'_ he hissed at me, which made me drew a deep breath and counting down from ten.  
_'My mother just invited US to dinner.'_ His mood changed abruptly from anger to shock, then settled on amusement.

_'She really did? I just tried to strangle her, and she invites me to dinner. Being crazy must be a family attribute in Morgan females.'_ I growled at him. Trust my demon to know what would make me furious. I started another mental countdown, this time from twenty.

_'Yes, it does… what else would drive me to the madness of mating with you?'_ It wasn't exactly serious, but the game of pissing off could be played by two people. He laughed and sent a kiss through the bond, which left me shuddering against the table.  
_'My skills?'_ the demon asked, smirk in place.

_'Dream on, sweets. So do you want to meet my mother… I mean for dinner- and may I add that none of my family members get eaten!'_ Full throaty laughter was my reward for this comment.  
_'Spoilsport! You may tell your mother that I gratefully accept her invitation.'_It felt like his warm hands were stroking over my back and I shuddered again.  
_'Thanks.'_ I cut our communication before he could drive me further into the depths of longing.

My mother's eyes studied me as if I were some interesting science specimen. With my background one should know that this was not pleasant for me. I scowled at her.

"You can really talk to him through your thoughts?" she asked.  
My eyes started rolling on their own.  
"Yes, I can. And he likes the idea… so you have two demons coming over for dinner." I wanted this deal done fast. My mother laughed and licked her lips.

"Fine, what do you think about 1 a.m.?" A smirk moved over my face.  
"Sounds good, we'll be there."

"Do I need to summon one of you?" I threw a glance at the wrecked kitchen and shook my head.  
"It's safer if you don't. I can cross over uninvited. And know what…? I'll make Al use a door for once." Alone the thought of it made me rub my hands in glee.

My mother laughed again. The entrance door opened, and I heard steps following the outline of the hallway. Maybe it was Donald coming back, or even Robbie visiting mum. Whoever it was, I'd had my share of family drama, so I was taking my leave now.  
"Good luck with breaking the news about the dinner to the rest of the family." My lips brushed her cheek, while the steps came closer. Right before the visitor rounded the corner, I jumped through the lines.

* * *

Wow, she totally surprised me at the end... well that's Alice for you... crazy^^. Love the woman, especially in "Pale demon" ^^. Sadly, I don't bring her across like Kim does, but I hope my Alice isn't all that far away from the goal ^^.


	51. Demon in the office

**A demoness awakens LI**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Trent / Quen  
**Summary:** Rachel has jumped, but whereto, and whats gonna happen there? Find out^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens LI: _Demon in the office_**

**- Rachel -**  
I almost expected problems with the jump, since daylight didn't seemed to like me anymore. But it didn't even hurt as I came through at Trent's office.  
The blond elf was talking on the phone and freezed in middle sentence.

"What in the Turn's name…" he bashed the cradle of the phone onto its body. Little cracks in the plastic surface showed how strong he really was.  
"What the hell are you doing in my office, Rachel? And what's up with these cloths?" I pause while I notized that I was still wearing Takata's robe… only Takata's robe. A blush started to come up, but Trent had seen the real deal, as well as half of the country, so I tried to fight it back. No point for feeling mortified now.  
I probably failed at the attempt to keep myself from blushing, but Trent only saw the grin on my lips as I took one of his vases off the rack and made it slip my fingers. The carefully worked porcelain, which was probably worth five times my rent cost, broke.

"Hey, that's mine." He hissed at me, while I slowly rounded the corner.  
"Trenton Aloysius Kalamack, I'm pretty peeved at the moment." My eyes found his and he slowly rose to his feet. I still didn't get how Trent always mananaged to keep his composure. He had to know he was in deep shit with me. I had used all three of his names, like a demon. I have never done so before.  
"What the hack are you talking about? Get out of my office otherwise I'll sic Quen on your ass." I laughed and it sounded scary even to me.

"Trenton, dear… the place I'll take you to has no Quen." I licked my lips and he reeled back only now acknowledging the threat I could pose.  
"Rachel! You promised!" It almost sounded like the beginning of panic. Delicious and exactly what I wanted from him.  
"Yes, yes… I promised… whatever. Trenton Aloysius Kalamack… someone ratted us out to Cormel and I want to know who. I'll only ask you this once… and if you dare to lie to me I'm going to enforce the familiar bound. Do you get that? That run almost killed us all… and this was the last drop in the sink. I won't ever allow anyone else to step on my back again… you get that? You want demon… you get it!" He made big eyes on me.

"Yes." He gulped sharply, obviously planning to kill me in the back of his head. I so didn't care right now.  
"I don't know who it was, but it hadn't been me, that much I know for sure." His voice sounded thin, but at least he wasn't lying to me. Good for him and good for me.  
God knew, I didn't want to make Trent my familiar, but after I threatened him with it, I would have to go through with it, otherwise my threats would mean nothing in the future.

"So, tell me Trent… do you have any idea who you can blame this on? Maybe Cormel has been spying on you." I sat down on the table and watched his moves carefully.  
The robe slide down my leg as I crossed them, it flashed a long hairless well-trained leg to him. Trent's eyes flickered over to it, only to move back to my eyes. His ears turned a little red. So he noted it, had he been fantasizing about my naked self? It almost made me blush again, but my inner demon saw the big opportunity to intimidating him with it.

"Spies… from Cormel, I don't think there are any spies in the inner circle. And they were the only people who witnessed your visit." I raised my eyebrows at that, while my fingers circled my knee. His eyes automatical tracked the movement. Funny, was Trent attracted to me?

My thoughts went back to the inner circle Trent had mentioned. It had to include himself, Quen, Ceri and Dr. Anders, since they had been the only people present beside Vampiric Charms. Sadly, the damn ley line witch was the only one I could think of.

Ceri had asked me to be her daughter's Godmother, and she was a lot better educated in demon law than I. She surely knew all the ways it could screw her and her daughter's ass over if she were to betray me. But was it a violation off our deal after all, I didn't know? I would have to ask either Al or Dali about it.  
Ceri was wise and old, and probably even more virtual than Trent, would she try to off me back-stabbing wise? Would she risk the safety of Jenks and Ivy by doing so? I had no clue, how reckless she could get if it came to protecting the ones she loved.  
On the other hand the pretty elf woman knew Al much longer than I, and I had the strong feeling she had a lot of respect for his ability to keep himself among the living.  
She would have known that this trap could only fail and color, me suspicious, but the woman was too intelligent to mess it up like that.

Trent was a mouseburger, and his ass was on the line even more than any others, since he was the legally aspirants for the job of being my familiar. He had sicced the Coven on my ass because of it. And I had no doubt he would try something resembling again if the chances to come out of it on the winning side were high enough. But things have changed, I was no longer the proto-demon creature his father had created by curing my Rosewood Syndrom, no I was a fully fledged demon woman, with instincts and powers and a mate on my side.  
He also knew his door would be the first I would kick in to get in his face, given I survive his attempt on my life in the first place. No, if Trent were behind it he would have made sure I dropped dead and stayed that way. Good thing he was in the dark about the demon resurrection curse… so even with that he would still be on my shit-list.

That left Quen and Dr. Anders. Anders had been a bitchy little professor at the University of Cincy. She went off a bridge to fake her death. It might have been her only choice to survive the real killer, who happened to be Al… ironically. She left me alone with Nick as my familiar and no way to break the bound. I was still pretty pissed at her for this, even if I could understand her motivation. Staying alive was always a good and powerful motivation.  
The woman had attact me as I was visiting Ceri and her daughter, and she had paid for it up the ass. To be true I still didn't know how she was holding herself up after Al had glutted her with force. Another of his going-postal-on-people I had forgotten he messing with my head? It was going to stop right there, or I was bound to kick him in his family juwels. But since Dr. Anders had been unconscious for more than half of the meeting she couldn't be the culprit.

So it was down to Quen, but he was Trent's head of security, and Ceri's fiancé as well as Maria's father. He had heard a lot of stuff about demons that Trent probably wasn't aware of. Especially about Al. Not a pleasant thought to know all his little dark secrets, while you were told by a person who had witnessed it all first handed. I shuddered at the thought of this and shook my head.  
Quen was more aware of the fact whose door I was going to kick in, and whose job it would be to get me out of Trent's office, should the attempt fail. And he knew I could bring the demon along. A pretty pissed one, who had been Ceri's master once. The demon with all the bad little corners in his mind, he was just waiting for my decision to make Trent my familiar. Al had offered to beat him into shape more than once already. Color me suspious but I didn't think being his mate would change the offer. No, he might even upgrade it. Even if I had no clue what his demon-mind would come up with next. I seriously didn't want to know. Quen was an excellent warrior, he had also been my dad's friend, and to top it off he wasn't known for being stupid or bored out of his mind. He couldn't be at fault either.

Well and here I stood, right at the beginning of my quest, not an inch closer to the solution. A slightest growl escaped my lips and Trent stared at me with disquiet eyes.  
His gaze finally traveled from my leg to my face, my fingers stopped circling my knee and our glances met.

"Trent, listen, if you know anything, I would suggest that you tell me now. Without Al looming behind me, because I seriously doubt that he will be as patient as I."  
The elf turned pale at the name of my demon. He shook his head.  
"Rachel, I seriously don't know how Cormel could have gotten wind about your little raid party. Really. I've better things to do than to mess up your life… you're doing a far better job on that matter than anyone else ever could." I hissed at him, but fuck, he was telling the truth. I was better screwing everything up than anybody else.

"So help me out Trent, if we don't find the culprit, Al will. And he's probably going to leave a path of blood in his wake." His eyebrow rose.  
"You're sleeping with him… so you go and put him on a leash." I pinched my eyes to slits until only the black was showing.  
"Trent, you don't want to go there. Really you don't." His beautiful curved lips moved into a smirk of barely surpressed glee.  
"What, is the demon not good enough?" He whispered and it felt like magic unvealed around me. Swept against my aura and I rose my eyebrows.

"Gee, Trent, am I crazy or are you jeaulous?" Now it was the elfs turn to look peeved which made my mood instantaneous better.  
Silence fell over us as the door to his office opened. Quen was holding a pile of papers and looked at me like I had just stepped out of a horror flick.  
I flashed my most affectionate smile at Trent as I moved closer. Quen's eyes became slits and he was positively not amused. Oh I would give him a reason to be not amused.  
Trent's eyes shifted back to me as his security officer put the stack of paper down.

"What are you doing here, Rachel? And how did you get behind the security borders." I laughed out loud, and hell it sounded psychotic. Where was this coming from?  
"I just came by to tell Trent that I'm not impressed by the Cormel incident and that should he be the one at fault… he's going to fill the still vacant post of my familiar." My smirk moved over to Quen, like I needed to emphase that Trent was legally mine.

The security officer turned a bit pale at first, but not for long since he turned red right afterwards.  
"Leave!" he ordered me. I grinned into his direction and seized Trent by his tie, pulling him down to my face. Inchs of air remained between us. Quen started muttering Latin and reached for the line, while Trent's blue eyes went wide with rising panic.

"I would suggest you two find me the traitor in your little inner circle. And I recommend that you do it fast. Fast enough that you can give the culpit to Al, come sundown, otherwise he's gonna turn this place upside down. I seriously doubt that I would be able to do much about it either."

Quen moved to the right, I knew he was just searching for a better angle to throw his black spell at me. Trent wasn't fighting my hold, so I jerked him closer.  
I still didn't know why I did it but I kissed him, wild and with tongue and lips behind it. The elf went totally stiff in my embrace and dropped to his knees as I let go of him.  
Quen's outcry was one of complete rage and he threw his spell.  
Eyes closing as I raised a sheet of protection between us and him. It was almost entirely black by now, but I didn't care anymore. There was no way to turn myself back into a witch.

Trent gaped at me like I had lost my mind, and perhaps he was correct. A big sadistic smile moved over my lips.  
"See you soon Trent." I gave him a bunny kiss-kiss and jumped.

Hopeful this little performance had emphased the pretty bad situation he was in, and would make them both work fast enough that nightfall wouldn't turn into a fucking bloodbath.  
Sure I could keep Al occupied with the dinnerplans, but it was a long night until the meeting, and if Al wanted to find time to mess with Trent, he would find some.

* * *

Sorry for making you wait so long for this chapter. I was pretty busy the last few weeks.  
Hope you like the little scene at Trents office ^^.


	52. Trouble in Paradise

**A demoness awakens LII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion"**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al  
**Summary:** Rachel comes back home, and brings foot and coffee. But her demon has been busy... and so a dangerous surprise is waiting for her.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens LII: _Trouble in paridise_**

**- Rachel -**  
I jumped into the kitchen, together with two coffees and some Chinese takeout. Being a demon had obviously a few pros I had never thought about before.  
Scarying the crap out of people to get coffee and foot for free was definitive a turn on.  
My eyes scanned the kitchen. Where was Al? And since when was I so eager to scare people? Was I still high from my gig at Trent's?

I was about to reach for my demon's mind as he jumped into his kitchen.  
"I brought food and coffee." Two portions of chup shue and two grand late Italian blend with extra cinnamon and whole milk.  
He refrained from saying anything and marched right up to me. His eyes were darker than usually and I shuddered at the intensity of his stare. Without meaning to I stepped back a few feet. Al was so angry, that it burnt me through the bond. Worst of it, I didn't know why he was so pissed off.

"Al? I didn't know! It wasn't me." Whatever caused his bad temper had something to do with me. Better to say sorry and ask later what this was all about.  
He seized me by the throat and lifted my off the floor. Suddenly breathing became a lot more difficult. I grasped for breathe and tried to pry his fingers from my neck, he just squeezed more forcefully.  
I kicked and crawled at him but he was as unmovable as a rock. Without a thought I reached for the line, ready to glut him with force.

My head hit the surface of the kitchen table hard and my vision went dark for seconds. How could the damn demon be so fast? I crawled as his fingers again, reached for his mind.  
Panic was bordering at my sanity, was this about me trying to kill him? He ought to know that my control about those stupid instincts was almost none existing.  
"I'll not be betrayed!" he hissed and his crawls ripped open the robe, as well as my skin. Blood rushed to the wounds and turned dark blue into black.

"Al… please." My voice was so weak I wasn't even able to hear it over the rapid beating of my heart. He just shook his head.  
"NO, I'm talking now, YOU listen!" he shouted at me, his voice barely more than a growl.  
"How dare you wandering off, buying daytime in the sun without me, just to come back covered in witch and elf!" My head hit the surface again.  
Bad nausea awakened in my stomach and if I had had enough air in my lungs to scream I would have pulked my head off.  
'I didn't…' my mind whispered at him.

"YOU didn't WHAT!" His fingers left my throat and he hit me right in the face. Lucky me he was using his palm not his fist. He would have knocked my senseless otherwise.  
My ears were ringing with the impacted of his vigor. I fell to the floor only to get the demon right behind me.  
"Reach for the line and I'll rip your head off!" He hissed at my ear.

"I didn't be… tray you!" That should have been a scream, but it came out barely as a whisper. Fingers found my hair and he pulled at it.  
"Explain!" his order sounded almost like a snake speaking human. Oh hell, I still haven't seen his true form.  
"Explain… Rachel… EXPLAIN!" The last even if it was only the slightest mutter had the most impact. It almost sounded like a plead, like Al was at the verge of losing his temper. If this wasn't losing it I didn't want to know what was!

"Robe's Donald's… mum's boyfriend. Elf is Trent, wanted to intimidate him… didn't betray you!" My answer sounded weak, but at least it was the truth.  
Al let go of my hair and rose to his feet. He left my bleeding, naked and full of fear on the floor and went for the coffee. His hands peened over his green velvet coat. I hated him worse than ever before.

"Not even a 'thanks' for the damn coffee? That figures! I hate you!" I tried to sit up and my stomach hurt like mad. It took my five seconds to recover and to make a fast survey report. Blood was pretty much everywhere, the robe was rendered useless and I would have to buy another to replace this one. My skin was torn, a few scratches were barely more than a few millimeters, and others were almost an inch deep.  
"Have you lost your damn mind?" I shouted at the demon.

Al had his coffee in hand and drank a gulp, he eyed me over. His expression was one of utter boredom but the bond gave away his fight for control.  
"What were you doing with Trent?" He asked, his voice was laden with hot fury.  
"I ordered him to find the idiot who ratted us out to the undead!" He growled low.  
"I wasn't asking about that. What did you do WITH him? Why do you smell of him?" The eyes that pieced mine were cold calculating even if the red was almost glowing.

"Quen came into the room and I wanted to embarrass him in front of his security officer, I kissed him." The demon's eyes got more intensive and a tremble worked its way over his body.  
His hand reached into the fork coat and he extracted something that looked suspicious like a syringe. Hot adrenaline ran through my system. If it was what I thought it was, and Al found out, I was going to be toast.

"I would have expected a lot from you, but never that you would try to run off with a fucking ELF! THIS! What is this?" He threw the thing at me and missed by purpose.  
My vision swam from the loss of blood. Al wasn't going to do anything about that, and I expected him to do more damage soon. I wanted to be able to fight back, at least as much as I could anyway. My mind connected with the line and Al didn't interrupt my concentration. He probably knew that I was going to heal myself.

Burnt amber washed over me as I reformed, this time completely without cloths, and of course hairy all over once more. I was so going to do something about that. Sitting in front of a furious Al without cloths was so not my image of fun.  
"I don't know what the fuck that is! Why do you think I should know?" The dizziness was slowly rethreading as the demon-curse replaced the missing blood.  
Interesting side-effect, I hadn't known about that one.

"Because…" and he was right in front of me again, the syringe almost poked into my eyeball. How has it gotten there? I was pretty sure he had thrown it at me. Did he have more than one? How many, was the question? Did he steal Trent's whole supply?  
"…this contains your DNA! The demonic DNA! How has the elf gotten his hand on it?" His thumb put pressure on the syringe and a drop of liquid ran down the needle.  
I gulped, this was a question I knew the answer too, and Al would smell any lie. My plan was to keep quiet, or to lie by omission, but instead of all my good intentions, I babbled it right into his furious red face.

"I… want to be a witch again!" Instead of hitting me he turned his back on me, walked a few feet and threw the syringe against a wall.  
"NO!" He turned back to me, the tails of his coat swirling with the force of motion.  
Al's eyes were black as the night-sky without stars. I wanted nothing more than to escape now, but something kept me glued right to the spot. Maybe it was a reaction trained into me by living with Ivy. Don't trigger the vampire's instincts then it's angry!

"Can you blame me? I want to be in the sun again, I want to be with my friends… with my family. I don't want to give up everything to live with you and all the other crazy demons!" A tear I hadn't planned on fell down my cheek. His dark eyes found mine and he snarled a very dark.  
"YOU ARE MINE! If you think I will EVER let you go, you're death ass wrong! I'm gonna put an end to your stupid dreams with the sun!"

I really expected him to go for my throat again… but instead he turned his back on me and walked to the ugly face which was his kitchen entrance.  
A big lumb formed in my stomach and against all common sense I followed him.  
"Wait! What are you going to do?" I asked, my voice sounded a lot stronger than I felt, almost as if I was able to give him orders as well.  
He turned his head to me.

"I'm collecting what's yours by right. If he's working my kitchen he can't steal from me!" Al strode further. I took a deep shuddering breath. He was going to abduct Trent; he was going to enforce the familiar bound on us. I had to do something!  
Before I could think twice about it I had taken hold on his sleeve, like it would keep the demon from leaving. To my astonishment it did.  
Al turned halfway around.

"No chance! You're not going to change my mind anymore. I left you with to much freedom student!" he said, his lips drawn back into a sadistic smile. A cold shudder ran down my spin and made me pause.  
His mind was a ball of hard determination, he wouldn't change his mind, and I knew it. It left me only one choice… I had to kill him. I played the scene through my head a few times and noted that I totally didn't want to. Not for Trent anyway.  
'There must be another way to save Trent…'

"Please…" I pleaded but he just shook his head.  
"A demoness shouldn't be begging… especially not for an elf. That you reject me to an extreme that you risk death for it… well that hurts. But Rachel, you're MINE… mine ALONE, I'll hurt you so deep down your soul that you'll regret that you have ever met me." He hissed and wrested away from my hold on his cloths. More tears fell from my cheek. Hell, I was crying again.

Al took two more steps and reached the face, he would come back with Trent. I had to do something… anything… NOW! Where were those stupid instincts then I needed them?  
Nowhere to be seen... of course! Again I snatched his sleeve, but this time I pulled him off the screaming face, right into me.  
His eyes were a mess of emotial distress, anger, sadness, loneliness, hurt, hatred and a little tickle of lust.

'Lust?' I blinked as it fell from my eyes like scales, how was it possible to forget one was naked? It was totally beyond me, especially in this situation.  
The demon eyed me over, he didn't go for my throat, but he didn't touch me either. Instead he straightened once more and turned back to his original plan. He didn't jerk the sleeve from me this time, but he was stronger than I and would simply pull me with him should I refused to let go.  
"Al…" I whispered, and I hoped it sounded as sexy as I wanted it to sound.

The demon paused and raised one of his eyebrows.  
"What do you want now, Rachel?" he sounded beaten, annoyed, hopeless. I shook my head, was I really planning to do THAT? With his sad expression and with the longing settling in my groin I was almost sure it would work. But what the hell would that make me. Using my body to get what I want? Turning slut for real… or even worse a whore?  
He was about to turn away again, but I couldn't let him do that. I had to save Trent. What in the Turn's name was I doing here? Every time I wanted to help the stupid elf, I ended up in worse shit that before. But I had the power to do something, to make a difference, and this without killing anyone. Well anyone but myself.

I made up my mind and pressed myself into Al. Our bodies' touched, green velvet at my front, his arm between my breasts. Al looked down, still emotionless and sort of drained.  
"Selling your body for the elf's sake?" He asked hatred colored his voice icy. I had to tremble at his words and shook my head.  
"Please, stay. With… me," it sounded even more pleading and sweet than I wanted it too. Sure thing my instincts were all hot for the idea. Adrenaline pooled in my stomach and made it almost flip over. This was a dangerous game.

"So you want me… now of all times? While you reek of a witch and an elf?" his red eyes burned ways down my front. I pressed into him harder and nodded.  
"Yes…" I licked my lips, while his eyes followed the path my tongue took. It felt so strange to hear those words coming out of my mouth, but they were true nevertheless.  
"It's not erotic to smell like other men, Rachel. Imagine me going out without you and coming back covered in the smell of other women!" A violent shiver went through me and my eyes found his. I was damn sure they were glowing poisonous green. Alone the thought made me furious as hell.

"You see?" He asked me with a smirk. I could understand him now, but I wouldn't let him stroll off to take Trent. He was going to stay with me. Dizziness washed over me and I had to grab his arm tighter.  
"Stay… wash their scent off my skin." Darkness was in my voice and I felt like falling.  
He eyeballed me over, suddenly the sadness changed into worriness. His fingers reached for my forehead. I saw the fight in his eyes as not only darkness but also hotness came over me.

Al shook his head and disentangled himself from my grip, how he managed that was beyond me. I almost went down, but he kept me upright by my arms.  
"No! This is not going to be THAT easy for you… you want me? Fine, seduce me. Make your point; get me all hot… without turning yourself over to the instincts. I want no one else for you to blame but your own lust for my skin! Prove to me that YOU want this…" His fingers traveled over his body.  
"That YOU want ME." I felt him reaching for my mind and all the hotness and longing vanished like mist in the sun, I was myself again.

I stood there, breathing hard, almost ragged, and normal again. Crap! What was I doing here anyway, naked in front of a demon. Al? My teacher? My will to fight him off was strong but I remembered Trent and Donald in time.  
If I let Al go in this mood, he would find both men… Trent would end in the ever-after tied to me and Donald… I didn't know what my teacher had ready for him. But trust the demon to come up with something unpleasant.  
It was still daylight… but somehow I had the feeling that wouldn't be able to keep Al from crossing over for long.

"Al…" how the hell was I going to give him what he wanted? He grinned.  
"Not so eager anymore! See, I knew it." He sounded hurt again and turned away, once more about to leave.  
'Shit, shit, shitfucking, shit on toast with fairy farts on top!' My hold on his cloths shifted over to his wrist, one hand on his strong arm, while the other grasped the lace on his throat. He paused while I pulled him down to me. Al didn't fight my commanding motions. I placed a hot kiss on his lips. Right the way I had kissed Trent sooner, but this one was longer. I came away breathless. Even without the instincts that felt way better than it should have.  
His eyes burned on my skin as he took in my naked body. He licked his lips, while my eyes followed the motion. Crap on toast, was he really attracting me?

"Nice, but certainly not enough, Rachel!"  
I shuddered at the thought where this was going to end. How far would I have to go for getting him off Trent's back?  
"Bedroom?" I asked and was surprised about the authenticity I heard in my voice. Al nodded and a second later we misted back into existence there.

* * *

Sorrry for the long wait. I have been very busy lately. And I'm pretty sure I can't make it twice a week or even once a week for a while.  
Hope you like the way that story runs... will Rachel be able to keep her demon off of Trent... and what will it cost her ^^. 


	53. Play for dominance

**A demoness awakens LIII**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion", and SMUT ahead^^**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al  
**Summary:** Al wants to collect Trent, but Rachel so wouldn't let him. She tries to bate her male into sex, so he would be to occupied. But Al plays hard to get. How's she going to make her plan work ^^.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens LIII: Play for dominance**

**- Rachel -**  
That I had suggested this made it even worse. I remembered last time… his hands all over my body, him inside of me… a flash of heat came with it, even through whatever method he was using to keep the instincts out of me.

He eyeballed me over and sat down, his legs spread like a macho-man's, the eyes a blazing fire. Al obviously liked what he saw.  
"Hard nibbles just from a kiss, Rachel you're a naughty girl!" Of course he had to make it even more difficult. Shame colored my face as red as my hair.

"Shut up!" I hissed as I walked over to him. I had absolutely no idea what I should do now. If he had been a witch, or a human, or anything but a demon, and if I had liked him even a bit, I would have known what to do with my naked body. But hell that was Al! And I was freaking naked in his bedroom. Damn it! I needed those instincts to guide me, but his control was too strong. He was not only able to control himself… but he was also able to control me. I hated that, it made me feel sort of incomplete.

Anger at myself, and his grinning stupid face gave me the strength to sit down onto his thighs, legs spread wide. He was able to see everything, from my breast to my hairy mons… great. My face burned red with shame. I needed my instincts back, I really needed them. To get them back I had to break his self-control first.  
This was something I could do. My fingers were trembling like mad as I began to open his buttons. His burning eyes watched every move with rapted attention.  
He didn't move as I peeled his frock coat off. The green velvet was warm with his body heat and it smelled like him. I waited for his scent to take effect, but there was almost nothing, only a slightest tickle, certainly not enough to jump his bones.

My finger fumbled at the lace which covered his throat, if I wanted to break his control, I had to have contact to his naked skin.  
Al kept motionless and neutral at my assult on his wearrobe. The lace was a bitch to get off, but I managed and threw the offending fabric aside.  
Still too many cloths in the way, I opened the two shirt buttons at his throat , baring his neck. This was going to take all day, and I didn't want his eyes on me for that long. He looked like he was eating me alive. It spooked the hell out of me… and on the other hand it sent sudders down my body.

He was grinning triumphantly, and to say it pissed me off was the understatement of the year. Losing patience, I buried my hands in the white cotton of his shirt and pulled.  
Buttons flew everyway, and I really expected Al to say something in anger- but he just grinned even more.  
He chuckled a bit. "Oh, so eager to disrobe me! I like that in a woman."  
"Shut up, Al!" I ordered him with a growl. The craziest thing about this: he obeyed.

My fingers went over his hairless, muscular chest. Yes, if you could forget the burnt amber smell, Al's nasty little comments and what he did for a living, he was one pretty piece of meat. Sadly, he never gave one the chance to forget who he was.  
Still his fingers stayed on the blanket, but they were not relaxed anymore. His hands were buried into it, as if he needed something to hold onto, so he wouldn't lose control. But I wanted him to lose it.

I raked his skin and he bit his lips, like he was holding back a moan. His self-control was making me furious. Not only because I needed my instincts to stomach having sex with him, but also because Iit made me feel unattractive.  
My hands ripped the rest of his shirt out of his pants and down his shoulder in a pretty wild gesture that seemed to surprise Al. He didn't say anything, like I had ordered him to, but his leer stayed the same as before.

Slowly I rose onto my knees and pressed my front to his. My nibbles were standing rock hard as my breasts touched his chest. Fingernails went from his belt up to his shoulder. They left red marks on his back. I almost pressed my breasts into his face, but I managed to keep a few inches between his lips and my nibbles. Shudders ran down my spin as he still refused to show any response.  
This was a lot harder than I thought it would be; dissatisfaction came up hard. A low growl left me as I sat back down onto his knees. My eyes searched for his. His leering goat-slitted eyes were burning me alive with their intensity.

"Not so easy is it, Rachel? Maybe you should consider a little more action."More action, he wanted more action! I was pissed enough to consider attempted murder again.  
"More action?" I hissed and grabbed the front of his belt. It sure as hell wasn't nice to be scorned. Oh, I would teach MY demon not to do that again. His belt became undone by my fingers before I realized what I was doing. Still his scent wasn't affecting me. Still he had control over the thing I needed to keep him here.

I jerked at his buttons and sent them flying as well. Al was still looking only into my eyes. I was pissed beyond believe. My palm hit him in the chest and sent his upper body onto the silk sheets, while my hands tried to wrestle down his trousers.  
It took more than three tries and it ended with torn fabric. But somehow I was so far beyond caring that it didn't mattered at all.  
My eyes wandered up to his lap… good thing Al wasn't wearing anything below that trousers or I would have started to scream.

"You like what you see?" the demon asked. My gaze moved from his half hard cock to his face, and my lips drew back from my teeth in a snarl.  
"No!" It was the truth, I didn't like him being only half erect! When had only doing this for Trent's and Takata's sake turned into a real challenge? I didn't know, I didn't care, not right now. Goose flesh was running down my skin as I drew other red marks down his body. This time it was his front ending up decorated.

He shuddered slightly, so not enough, I wanted MORE, I wanted him screaming under me. Begging me to have merce on his very soul! Where was this thought coming from? I clawed at his chest more violently, he hissed a bit in pain. Finally he was reacting! Where the hell was his scent, I wanted it to warp itself around me- like a blanket.  
"Oh, too bad, I should get up then." He tried to rise into a sitting position.  
"Yes!" I hissed - a command - and pressed him back onto the silk. He blinked up at me in confusion, only now getting what I meant with 'him getting up'. Clearly a reaction he hadn't expected from me, but so neither had I.

My index finger moved down his half hard manhood gently, he shuddered again. Thumb, index and middle finger danced over the hot skin slowly, only to take hold on him almost violently.  
This time he screamed and his hand buried deeper into the silk.  
"Rachel!" He moaned deeply. I didn't know if it was lust or shock, and I was so totally not giving a fuck right now.

Three fingers moved up and down while my hair ran over his chest. My mouth closet around one of his nibbles and I bit down hard. It must have been harder than I thought, since I suddenly could taste his blood on my tongue. Heat exploded in my loins and more adrinaline ran through me. He jerked violently under me and his hands came up to take hold on me.  
I was still faster and pushed them back down, he let me, his eyes wide with shock.  
"Behave!" My order sounded hot and more dominant than any other time in my life, it felt so good.

"Rachel?" he asked a bit bewildered. I pushed my front against him and looked at his face.  
"No questions allowed!" I groaned erotically. Al's eyes went even wider now, and suddenly they were all black. His control broken- his scent, and lust smashed into me like a tsunami.  
I screamed at the intensity and drew his scent to me. My middle was rubbing against his knee, and hell I was dripping wet. The desire was so absolute I didn't even think about it. I wanted to screw that demon beneath me. I just wanted… no needed… this hard piece of flesh inside of me.

Al moaned loudly and clawed at his bedsheet, since I had told him to keep his fingers to himself. Then I climbed on top of him, my hips restrained his as I let him press against my privates. He moaned even louder, but still he didn't move. Oh, I wanted to know what he would do once he couldn't hold onto himself anymore.  
I moved my hips downwards. Hot showers of sensations ran from my crotch up to my head as he impaled me. It was so wild, but still not enough to satisfy me. I move up and down as hard as I could.

He was a lot bigger than a normal witch, and it hurt, but it only added to the violent maelstrom off sensations which were running through me. His hand gripped my butt and I let him touch me this time.  
"Move!" I ordered him. This was so nuts, but I needed him to move now.

And Al did exactly what I told him to. His mouth closed around one of my nibbles and he bit down as hard as I had. It left me writhing on top of him. The hot warm tongue drew over my nibble, a mix of pleasure and pain. He started to move inside of me and suddenly a part of the line lashed through me. I threw my head back and screamed as the intensity multiplied. That game could be played by more than one person and so I started drawing the line through him.

His body jerked underneath me and moved. A blink of an eye later I was buried under his warm weight. He drove into me and out, and back again, the line followed his very move. My fingernails raked his back and I knew from the smell of his blood and the warmth on my fingers that I had cut him.  
His moan was halfway an outcry of pain and otherwise totally wild. A low growl started in his throat. It sent shivers of fear and longing through me. Hands found my breasts and he started to play with them. Fingernails dug into the flesh and made me writhe even more.

I pulled my head back, pressed it into the blankets on the bed and arched my torso to meet him. Al's growl grew louder and it sent wild showers of adrinaline through me. His tongue and nose touched my upper body. He tasted me with his senses while his hard rod moved slowly and forceful inside of me. I whimpered as his tongue danced over the skin of my throat. Teeth grazed over the vampire mark, and as if my shuddering half crazy with lust wasn't enough for him he let his tongue play with it.

Ley line energy raced from his manhood up to his tongue and the seizures of pure pleasure drove deep through me. I screamed as he made me come for the first time. My fingers against his back drawing blood with sudden movements again. He cried above me as I tightened around his cock. But he didn't slow down, instead he became even more forceful. It made me whimper in pain. I tried to get away from him but he pinned me down and growled louder.  
It managed to dim a bit of the madness which had befallen me.  
"Al…" my voice sounded hurt and a slash of line made me tremble beneath him. I clawed at the sheets and they gave way but he was as unmovable as a rock.

His scent got wilder than before and my eyes moved over to him. His eyes were still black - as was his tongue. But not only that, a lot of him had changed.  
The tongue was a lot longer than before, his skin tone darker, sort of dark dirty grey. He had horns and claws, his face was decorated with white lines and hornlike ridges crossed his cheeks and arched over his eyebrows. His throat was decorated with white fur. Fucking freak on fire, he had shape-shifted on top of me! Was he nuts? Adrinaline pulsed hard as my body and mind fought over which emotion I should be feeling- fear or lust… or both?

What the hell was I sleeping with? He didn't answer me, instead he hit a point deep inside of me that made me moan in pleasure and pain, despise his appearance.  
"Al…" it was barely a whimper but he paused. His armes grabbed my middle, claws nicking my skin, while he turned me, so his upper body could press itself against my backside.  
I was losing control fast, too fast!  
His arm went around my waist to lift it a bit more, changing the angle of his trusts, making them even more sensual. I tried to fight the sensation but it was useless. His scent turned me limb under him, made me accept his dominance over my flesh. And I was feeling dizzy from the lust that caused me.

My head hang down and I moaned again as he sped up a lot. Still the seizures of my orgasm made it difficult for him to move and impossible for me to feel much more than pain at his harshness. To my astonishment it didn't diminish my lust in any way. It drove me even crazier - his losing control over me was prove of his affection. I had wanted him to lose his self-control, and I had managed that. It made me proud to have driven my demon so mad with lust that I now had a wild animal behind me, about to fuck me senseless.

Al's moves changed, they got slower but also deeper, I screamed for him. The pain was gone completely now, or at least so merged with the pleasure that it was one ball of energy.  
His tongue slipped over my spin, almost like a wet snake. Why wasn't that bringing me down? I pushed my hips against his manhood, almost pleading him to get even wilder. Claws moved up on both sides next to his tongue, and his tail wrapped around my middle and held me in place.  
One part of me was screaming at me in panic but the rest of my psyche was too far gone with demon-instincts to care.

His growl had now turned into a deep resonating grumble. It stroke alive parts of me I never thought I had. Darkness surrounded me, surround us. It swept through the room like smoke. He turned me around with his tail as he pulled out of me for a second. His claws pushed my shoulders deep into the sheets. He entered me again and made me cry out.  
I could do nothing else but moan at him as he drew the line from all parts of my body to each other part he was touching. It was too intensive and I lost focus while the next orgasm raced through me.

The darkness reacted to this sensation and touched Al, moved over his skin. All the tiny hairs on his body stood at its attention, and I could feel them with a mind-numbing intensity.  
My demon above me cried out and came, his tail tightened around me. Alone those little bits of pressure were able to throw me over the edge again.  
But whatever we had started I couldn't stop it anymore. I was to far gone in all this lust and pain… and longing. My mind reached for his soul… with the part which bonded us and the darkness which had been collecting around us started to fill both of us.

Al cried out and his claws pierced my shoulder, right through my body. It was considerable damage, but it only pulled me deeper into the maelstrom of desires. Total and pure madness must have befallen me.  
My hands chopped at his back and took hold on the bones of his ribcage, I felt so full of power, strength and lust that I only noted it by the way. I had just pierced his skin like I had claws on my own. The worst of it was, I didn't care. I only wanted my demon to move faster, more, harder… and he did.

His soul reached through the darkness and touched mine, it was like being dropped into the line with every cell. I was alight with pleasure. The orgasm took my totally off guard with its insitiy… and it build in waves. It got more powerful with each second. And Al sensed it too. He came as well, wild and untamed.  
Seconds stretched to infinity while both of us ceased to exist as separated beings. It was like we were not only one but also united with everything around us.  
The lines sang through our flesh and the wave in my body got even harder to bear. Al came again, and I sensed the warmth between my thights, shooting into my privates. It amplified the lust even more and I took everything he could give me, while I screamed myself raw.

Al's tail moved down my back and held up from the sheets, I let him have me every way he wanted, and as a reward he gave me everything of him.  
Our souls seemed to merge completely, first the aura, then the energies on the deeper level. Everything went dark as the heat in my loins started to burn.

* * *

Sorry for the really long wait, had to take care of a lot of stuff. for the once who fear I might ditch the fiction, don't worry. I'm still working on it, but it takes a lot of time, sadly.


	54. Wild with lust

**A demoness awakens LIV**  
**Disclaim:**_ The charas are not mine, they belong to Kim Harrison and her Hollow series._  
**Side-fiction:** _Taming ones lust_

**WARNING: Spoilers from "Black magic santion", and SMUT ahead^^**  
**Pairing:** Rachel / Al  
**Charas:** Rachel / Al  
**Summary:** Al has shifted shape on top of her. It didn't make it the experience bad, but what will happen as soon as she's awake again? See for youself.

_Please enjoy_

* * *

**A demoness awakens LIV**: _**Wild with lust**_

**- Rachel -**  
It could have been seconds or hours which ticked by until I awakened once more. Al was still firmly planted inside of me. His weight was pressed to my backside, while his claws danced over my body. It sent sudders down my spin, which amplified my hold on his manhood.  
Hell, this had been some awesome demon sex.  
My shoulder was still throbbing with pain from his piercing. Luckily it was dull in comparison the other pleasant sensations. I had seriously never felt this content. Not even after binding us. His fingers danced more and I opened my eyes. The room was utterly dark but somehow I was able to see anyway.

His aura was as black as the darkness around us, but the resonance was different. His flesh looked like a comic done in blue outlines on black. It was the strangest way to see I had ever experienced. Still his claw wandered up and down one of my limbs. But it wasn't one of my arms, or my legs… I looked down and he paused.  
"Rachel?" his voice was low and trembling. It made me shudder. And I wasn't sure if it was from lust or from worry.

At least he was able to speak again. His scent was calming me even before I could work up enough energy to freak out. My fingers found the part of my body he was stroking.  
I touched it, but even seeing it, and feeling it under my fingertips, made absolutely no sense to me.  
_'I have a tail?'_  
"What is… this?" I asked. His fingers traveled down to its end and pulled it to his face. A wet tongue moved over the skin, flesh which was more snake-scales than skin.  
Even though I was worried as all hell about it, I couldn't help but moan at his administration. Shivers of goose flesh ran over my flesh.  
_'Crap on toast, what's going on?'_

"This was one hell of an encounter… you stripped me off my control like other people strip off clothes. Rachel, you even allowed yourself to lose it as well." he whispered against my tail. For the sake of the Turn, I truly had a TAIL. How could that be even possible? Panic nagged at the border of my mind, but his scent wound itself around me and made me sigh with pleasure.  
"What… do you mean?" I asked and his tail swept my hair from my eyes… it touched skin and made me shudder against him. It had a similar effect on him- he grew hard inside of me once more. Why was he still in there?  
"Did I burn even more witch out of me?" Even through all the walls he had been building around my mind, this managed to make me at least worry.

"Witch?" He kissed my neck and I couldn't help but sigh. My hips moved a little of there own, making him stir to full force. I was so lost.  
Fingers touched my face, grazing parts which were as sensitive as skin but were on wrong place- did I have those hornlike ridges as well? I needed a mirror!  
"Al…?" I wailed in worry. He just kissed me.  
"My demoness." It was barely a whisper but it sounded worshipful. A new wave of longing went right to my core. That I was worried sick, weired out and not getting anything about what had just happened now didn't spoil anything.

"You're beautiful, my Jariathjackjunisjumoke." I knew it was my summoningname, and it should have made me angry that he used it- in bed- but it had a totale different effect on me.  
Wetness pooled in my middle, right around his flesh. This was so perverted, he was a horned monster, and I had a tail, but it still felt so frigging right; him being there.  
_'Shame on me for even thinking that!'_

"What is happening to me… Al?" I asked a bit bewildered at my reaction.  
"You proved it more than necessary. I would never have even dared to dream about it. You accepted me… accepted this. We are in trouble, but there is no need to rush anymore, it's already done."  
_'Trouble, more trouble… we really don't need that. I don't need that!'_  
But hot air moved over my neck as he breathed down on me, rendering my thoughts useless with barely putting any effort into it. His fingers wound through my hair and jerked my head back. It wasn't painful, just possessive. And my middle started to burn with longing. What the hell had he done to me?

"Why do I have a tail?" I asked and the damn thing twitched in his hand as if I were a nervous cat. He held it, with force, but also with so much care. It didn't hurt.  
"You revealed your demon-form. That's one hell of a compliment among us."  
My heartrate sped up. I was pretty sure if there had been a radar trap present, I would have received a ticket.  
"Demon… form? Al?" That worried my big-time. I shouldn't have a demon-form at all. His fingers danced across my middle and I moaned again.  
"Stop that… I need to think about that. Tell… meeee." The last was weak and long, laden with lust since he began to move again.  
"No you don't need to think about anything right now. You're safe with me, Jariathjackjunisjumoke." One of his claws touched my shoulder and trailed down in the form of liquid heat and ley line energy. He was seducing me, I knew it. That he used that name for a second time while he was still buried inside of me amplified my distrust, but my body had other ideas.

All on their own my hips pushed back against his cock. It sent shudders of energy and longing through me. His hand came to rest on my belly and pressed me against him. I sensed the ley line energy behind it, and even though I knew this was far from normal it caused arousal beyond anything I had ever experienced.  
There was something utterly wrong and right at the same time. I sensed it right the moment his energy entered me. Something about me had changed, and I didn't mean the obvious facts like the tail. There was something else which was different, more important and on a deeper level than the outside. But I had no time to dwell in my thoughts since Al was pretty good at distracting me. He started moving faster.

My claws- and yes, they were real claws, just like his- burrowed deep into the mattress.  
"I don't want you brooding. You should enjoy yourself… enjoy me, my itchy witch." The old nickname sounded so out of place in his bedroom with my tail slowly winding around his middle, but it gave me a piece of reassurance.  
_'Yes, worry about it later. Later is fine. Enough time… later.'_ The pulsing of the line was back, and it brought a whisper with it. Was there some sort of common instinct-ghost, like there was a demon-database with an own will? Crap on toast, this culture was weirding me out.

Al's motions grew more forceful again, which left me under him moaning with wild pleasure. His pounding into me felt so right, like no men had ever felt before. What the hell was wrong with me? I was having sex with a monster-demon, and to say I liked it was the understatement of the century. I loved it… his body, his scent, his dominance, the attention he gave me; loved it with all my heart. Sadly, the only thing I didn't love was him.

The fingers moved over my body, the line through my aura and soul, while his hard rock was buried inside of my wetness. He was building waves of pleasure… they swept through the room… and through me, growing in power and meaning. It was like being a drug addict. I wanted more. It took him only a few minutes to have me breathless beneath him, panting with the forth orgasm in less than ten minutes.  
Why the hell was he able to rule my body like that? It was like he only needed to press a few buttons and Rachel-flesh moved according to his command. Even this little thought couldn't stop me from needing more.

I only noted that I had closed my eyes in bliss as sudden emptiness made me growl in dissatisfaction. My eyes shifted about the room, searching for Al, my ass was still up in the air. Wetness dropped onto the purple sheeds. It shimmered with the same blue outlines as everything else did.  
It took me a few seconds to spot him, leaning against the and touching himself. Pleasing himself? He should be pleasing me! The demon became aware of my gaze and smiled, also done in blue outlines.

I could see more of him now. His arms were a bit bigger, his horns curved upwards in semicircles at the sides of his head. The tail was longer and wider than mine. His feet had some sort of an additional joint and fur at the ends, resembling the hind-paws of a wildcat. I wondered why he had no wings- weren't demons supposed to have wings?

His tail moved invitingly, scribing a quarter circle over the silk.  
"Come to me." He whispered and even if it was quietly spoken it seemed to echo back from the walls. His words wrapped around my mind and the thought alone of having him back inside of me was enough to get me moving.  
When had I lost my will to fight this? But even as I tried fighting it, I knew it was useless. He had me, and even that thought was a pure aphrodisiac for me. This whole thing was so totally beyond my understanding that I refused to even try it.

As I reached my demon, I crawl over his legs to his middle. My lips and tongue moved over his hot skin. Delicious, his skin was so delicious I could have spent hours licking the sweat off his body. His eyes were black and so were mine- it was time to change the person on top. My tongue- which I noted was still thankfully its normal length- found his manhood and licked the slit in its middle.

Tastes exploded in my mouth, a bit smoky, male, and musky, salty with some sweetness flavoring it. I couldn't withstand the pull to savor more of it. My lips closed around his head and I began to suck slowly. The demon beneath me moaned with the pleasure this evoked. His hands found my head, and I was sure he wanted to pull me closer to his hilt. My fingers snapped at his hands, and he dropped them. I wouldn't have him dominant while I was on top! My tongue started dancing wildly while I used my fingers to massage his balls.  
Funny how he was able to keep them so hairless- there had to exist a curse for it. A curse I desperately wanted.

His claws raked at the sheets as I had done before. But even if he was able to control his hands, his tail had other ideas. I felt its warm roughness rubbing my middle, smearing wetness all over its texture. It sent shudders of arousal through me, but I growled nevertheless. My own one wound around it, even if I didn't know how I managed to move that thing. Moving a tail was nothing I had ever done before, but my body didn't seem to see a problem with that fact. Slowly I managed to press his tail down onto the sheets, my throat still growling at him.

Al went limb under me and let me take over the role of the dominant one. I woundered why he let me, but maybe it turned him on to be the bottom as much as the top. Perhaps it was demon-psychology, because I enjoyed both roles as well, at least with him.  
My eyes found his and an idea was born in my mind. Whether it came from Al, from the pulsing line or from my own perverted thoughts, I had no idea.

Claws pressed against his balls made him whimper. Hell, this was utterly arousing… never thought I would get off on dominance that much. But that was far from the goal of this game.  
The tip of my tongue slowly pressed against his opening. My demon writhed beneath me and as I channeled the line through these two points. He screamed. It was a mix of agony and mindless lust, and I only knew the later one because I was connected to him through the bond. It didn't make me pause and so I sucked as he came right into my mouth. It was warm and salty, the sweet flavor was missing but it didn't taste bad at all. And before I knew what I was doing I had swallowed it.

A new wave of arousal beat at me and I rose to his mouth and kissed him. My tail unwound from his and found his manhood, massaging it with more skill than I would have given the long thing credit for. Al groaned something at me and trapped my head with his hands.  
His eyes were still black but laden with heat.  
"By Chibirias of the earth… you're born for this!" He hissed at me and his own tail warped around my middle to draw me onto his cock.

It met absolutely no resistance on my account. But a part of my mind was asking itself what he meant with 'born for this'. If he even thought of turning me into his sex-slave I was going to rip his head off… or maybe just his balls. Sadly, I had to realize I was pretty much behaving like one already. This was a thought I didn't like at all. He got his hand onto my tail and started to pull it off his manhood.  
Al was pretty careful while doing so, probably because he still needed that part of his anatomy and wasn't sure how I would take a more forceful trial.  
Since I wasn't able to move it with my conscious mind he was well advised to be gentle. Suddenly he was buried in me as deep as before while his claws danced over my tail. A cry of utter passion rose and I let the line slash through him.

Even though he was moving inside of me, he didn't take the top posision and so I rode him while he began to caress my breasts, my throat and my hair. Both of us were breathing ragged and fast. His tail coiled around mine and rubbed it. It caused a sensation which left us screaming. Again he unleashed the line through me as he bit my nibble. My claws pierced his shoulder and I couldn't withstand the desire to drink his blood. The line collided inside of us, as we both tried to draw it through the other. It exploded, and we came, screaming.

* * *

Yes this fiction is still active ^^


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